How to find the name of a colour
- Pick a colour with the picker, or paste a HEX code, rgb() or hsl() value.
- Read the closest colour name and how close it is, plus the eight nearest named colours with their codes. Click a code to copy it.
How the closest name is found
There are millions of possible screen colours but only a few hundred common names. The finder compares your colour with the 148 CSS named colours (such as SteelBlue, Tomato and RebeccaPurple) and about fifty popular design names (such as Terracotta, Sage, Mustard and Navy), and picks the one that looks most similar. Similarity is measured in the CIELAB colour space with the CIEDE2000 formula, the international standard for perceptual colour difference, rather than simple RGB distance, which often picks names that look wrong.
A ΔE (delta E) below 1 is not noticeable to most people, 1–3 is noticeable on close inspection, and above about 5 the colours look clearly different. Named colours are useful for describing colours to clients and teammates, writing alt text and documentation, naming design tokens, and making accessible descriptions for people who cannot see the colour. Everything runs in your browser.
What colour is #3b7dd8?
Its closest named colour is Steel Blue (#4682B4); the table shows the next closest names.
Why use CIEDE2000?
It matches human perception much better than distance in RGB.
Can I use CSS colour names in code?
Yes. The 148 CSS names work in any stylesheet, for example color: tomato.