Expert: Walter Hintz - 8/16/2009

Question
Just wondering what our chances are of having a child with red hair with these background colours in our family?

Myself: Dark brown hair, brown eyes
My mother: Medium brown hair, blue eyes (tho they sometimes look almost hazel)
My father: Dark brown hair, brown eyes

My partner: Light brown hair, blue eyes
Partners mother: Medium brown hair, brown eyes
Partners father: Light brown hair, brown eyes

I looked at one of those eye colour calculators and it came out 50% brown, 40% blue and 10% green so i'm just wondering what colours my children are likely to have combined?


Answer
You are carrying genes for blue and so is the partner.  Eye and hair color is determined by more then one pair of genes for a trait.  The odds are in favor of your child having dark hair and eyes and perhaps a 25% chance of having blue eyes and light hair.  Chances for a real redhead are slim since it occurs in only 3% of the population. A strawberry blonde is a possibility however.
Your ethnic background may be a factor.  Most American redheads have a Northern or Western European ancestry