What Color Eyes Will My Baby Have? Baby Eye Color Predictor

This baby eye color calculator will help predict what color eyes will your baby have.

Genetics is a fascinating thing. Every year, new developments are made in terms of understanding exactly what makes you you, and how your parent’s genetic building blocks combined to create your fabulous self. Your iris color is just one of those unique traits, and we are now understanding that predicting your baby’s eye color is much more complex than previously thought.

What is eye color?

The colored ring surrounding the dark pupil of your baby's iris is determined by melanocytes, which are cells that secrete the two protein pigments called melanin and lipochrome. Eye color These pigments darken the iris and the more melanin your eyes have, the darker they will be – like dark blue or brown. The less melanin your eyes have, the lighter they will be – like blue or green. The more lipochrome your eyes have, the more likely they will be green or hazel.

What determines a baby's eye color?

As many as 15 different genes play a role in determining eye color, making it complicated to accurately predict what color eye’s your baby will have. The reality is that almost anything can happen, even in families where it seems straightforward.

What are dominant alleles?

There are two alleles for each trait you inherit. One allele is more prominent than the other allele and it is called the dominant allele. The less prominent allele is called the recessive allele.

Can You Accurately Predict Your Baby’s Eye Color

Yes and no. While this baby eye color predictor tool does use genetic probability to make the best guess, actual results may vary. It’s also important to remember that most babies don’t have their final eye color until about six to nine months old.

Blue-eyed vs. brown-eyed Predictions

Brown and blue eye color were found to be accurately predicted 90% of the time in a study done in Amsterdam. Depending on where your ancestors came from, you are more likely to have dark or light eyes. But at this point, there’s no way to predict baby eye color with 100% certainty.

What about hazel eyes?

Hazel eyes are hard to predict because it’s typically a mixture of brown, green and amber shades. If both the parents have hazel eyes, there are 99% chances that the baby will also have hazel eyes. If both the parents have brown eyes, there is a 75% chance that their child will have brown eyes. If both the parents have green eyes, there are 99% chances that the baby will also have green eyes.

What about heterochromia?

Heterochromia is a genetic trait that affects the iris resulting in two eye colors. In Heterochromia iridis each iris has a different color. It can also be a result of Waardenburg syndrome.

Can two parents with brown eyes have a baby with blue eyes?

Brown eyes (and green eyes) are considered dominant, but two brown-eyed parents can definitely have a blue-eyed baby. If both of you have brown eyes, then there is approximately a 25% chance that your child will have blue eyes if you both carry a recessive blue-eye gene. If only one of you has a recessive blue-eye gene, and the other has two brown, dominant genes, then there is a less than 1% chance of the baby having blue eyes.

Do grandparents have an effect on eye color?

Yes! Grandparents can often give you clues about what recessive genes are knocking around. That said, your baby’s eye color inheritance probabilities are only changed by about 2-5% when it comes to grandparents.

Will my newborn’s blue eyes stay that way?

Many babies are born with blue eyes but depending on the amount of melanin in their iris you may see eye color changes between the ages of 3 and 6 months old. You might even see subtle eye color changes until their third birthday. Rest assured if your child is rocking a brown eye color it will most likely stay that way.