To think dark brown eyes aren’t common in white British people

[Runaway3444]

Ds1 has dark brown eyes and due to his skin tone people just assume he’s white British rather than having a Middle Eastern father. My other children have a darker skin tone so people believe them. Aibu to think most people with dark brown eyes are usually from minority ethics background.

@Miseryl

I’ve previously posted- consider myself white British but my grandfather was Greek Cypriot (who are white but not British obviously). My eyes are almost black but not quite.

It would be interesting to know what the OP defines as “white British” and “dark brown”.

Yes, many people would consider themselves 'white' and 'British' when they have a grandparent from another European country.

Yes, many people would consider themselves 'white' and 'British' when they have a grandparent from another European country.
Boris Johnson's great-grandfather was famously Turkish.

YABU. My Mum has Green eyes ginger hair , my Dad brown hair & eyes, l have blue so do my brother and sister, My Dd's have green eyes, despite myself and their Dad having blue eyes , we all have blond hair.

My DS has an eastern European grandparent but I tick white British because he is white and he is British.

All my children have dark brown eyes and we're white british.

What a strange thing to think

My husband is half Middle Eastern, he has pale green / grey eyes. One of our kids has fair hair with blue eyes that are slowly turning green as he gets older. The baby has dark hair, very sallow skin and dark blue eyes so far.
I don't think people should judge ethnicity at all to be honest, I can't imagine needing to know where someone's parents are from anyway and I'd just accept whatever a person told me about themselves no matter what colour their eyes or skin were.

There's no such thing as white British, most of us are mixed heritage somewhere.

Bollocks. Unless you accept that there is no such thing as African American or any other subset of race or ethnicity for that matter.

I have an East European grandparent who was white with dark brown eyes as are my mum, myself and DD.

@SunflowersAndLavender

There's no such thing as white British, most of us are mixed heritage somewhere.

Bollocks. Unless you accept that there is no such thing as African American or any other subset of race or ethnicity for that matter.

African American is it’s own race seperate from Black African specifically because African Americans have mixed (white) race heritage & are totally seperate ethnicity.

White British is also mixed race - in the past in places like London and Liverpool lighter skinned Indians just blended into the population, which is why traditional Arab surnames have existed here since the middle ages. Where do you think Baker as a surname comes from? The concept of baking, the surname Baker, certain Welsh names, it all comes from the middle east. Then there are some ‘traditional’ white names which are actually traditional Indian Punjabi names.

I know more people with dark eyes than light eyes in my Caucasian family.
I thought the dark eye gene was dominant somehow. Maybe not.
Interestingly my Indian MIL has light brown eyes.

Anyway, ethnicity isn't to be judged or believed, it is what the person says their ethnicity is, end of story.
My son is half Indian (and half white European) but looks very Caucasian. He is British by birth. In the future it is up to him to say whether he is White British or mixed Indian/White. Or even White Other. My girls are darker so will carry the Indian look more obviously I imagine.

My white, and in fact blonde, children have very dark brown eyes. If you ask my 3yo what colour they are he says black.

Haven't read the whole thread...
My mother has dark brown eyes, was blonde as a child, and this combination was unusual in the parts of England (E and SE) where she grew up. Whether it was her appearance or a good ear for accents I'm not certain, but when she visited European countries in her teens she was always assumed to be local.

So i think blonde with brown eyes probably has become more common in England than it was 80 years ago.

Also worth remembering that many who breve themselves to be 100% white British probably are assuming they are not in the 5% of Britons who are affected by paternity fraud. This was probably more common in previous generations too, and no amount of tracing your family tree is going to account for that, unless you have an ethnicity dna test done as well.

*believe, mot breve!

My children both have dark blonde hair, skin that tans easily and dark chocolate eyes. Me and my husband have both had family trees done to the 1700's . Lots of Welsh, English and a bit of Polish.

Well brown eyes are rarer than blue eyes in white british population

I have dark brown eyes and my family are white Scottish for ateast the last 6 generations.

I'm very fair skinned - Scots descent - but with very dark eyes. Twice men of Middle Eastern appearance have asked me if I'm mixed race. Both times I was wearing a dark wig.

YABU.

@Chienloup

Also worth remembering that many who breve themselves to be 100% white British probably are assuming they are not in the 5% of Britons who are affected by paternity fraud. This was probably more common in previous generations too, and no amount of tracing your family tree is going to account for that, unless you have an ethnicity dna test done as well.

That is a good point though. I only have the word of family members to go on. I would love to fo a dna testing to find out.

I’m another one with almost black eyes, dark brown hair and dark olive skin but 100% British heritage - Scottish, Irish and southern England with. Nothing non-white showed on my DNA results at all.

@Flaunch

I’m another one with almost black eyes, dark brown hair and dark olive skin but 100% British heritage - Scottish, Irish and southern England with. Nothing non-white showed on my DNA results at all.

we could be distant cousins.. I have the exact same generics and very dark brown eyes 😂

See you on Ancestry 😆

I don't agree.
Blue eyes are a mutation, most of the world has brown eyes.
Loads of "white British" (I assume anyway!) people I know have beautiful dark eyes.

I have very dark brown eyes and black hair, as do both my parents. All my ancestors for the last few hundred years are from the same 10 mile radius in the north west of Ireland. It's been confirmed with DNA that we are 98% Irish 2% Scottish.

It's interesting that blue eyes are becoming more common in the UK. You would think it would be the other way around with the increase in diversity. Is it sexual selection?