Baby blue, also known as light blue, is a tint of azure, which is one of the

pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...

colors. The first recorded use of ''baby blue'' as a color name in English was in 1892.

Variations of baby blue

Beau blue

Beau blue is a light tone of baby blue. "Beau" means "beautiful" in French. The source of this color is the color that is called ''beau blue'' in the ''Plochere Color System'', a color system formulated in 1948 that is widely used by

interior designer Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. With a keen eye for detail and a Creativity, creative flair, an ...

Baby blue eyes

Baby blue eyes is a rich tone of baby blue. The source of this color is the color that is called ''baby blue eyes'' in the ''Plochere Color System'', a color system formulated in 1948 that is widely used by

Little boy blue

Little boy blue is a deep tone of baby blue. The source of this color is the "

Pantone Pantone LLC (stylized as PANTONE) is an American limited liability company headquartered in Carlstadt, New Jersey, and best known for its Pantone Matching System (PMS), a proprietary color order system used in a variety of industries, notably gr ...

Textile Paper eXtended (TPX)" color list, color #16-4132 TPX—Little Boy Blue.

Baby blue in human culture

Western culture Western culture, also known as Western civilization, European civilization, Occidental culture, Western society, or simply the West, refers to the Cultural heritage, internally diverse culture of the Western world. The term "Western" encompas ...

, the color baby blue is often associated with baby boys (and baby pink for baby girls), particularly in clothing and linen and shoes. In the late 1960s,

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Alan Watts Alan Wilson Watts (6 January 1915 – 16 November 1973) was a British and American writer, speaker, and self-styled "philosophical entertainer", known for interpreting and popularising Buddhist, Taoist, and Hinduism, Hindu philosophy for a Wes ...

, who lived in Sausalito, a

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, suggested that

police car A police car is an emergency vehicle used by police for Police transport, transportation during Patrol, patrols and responses to Call for service, calls for service. Police cars are used by police officer, police officers to patrol a Beat (po ...

s be painted baby blue and

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

instead of

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

and white. This proposal was implemented in San Francisco in the late 1970s, until the late 1980s. Watts also suggested that the police should wear baby blue uniforms because, he asserted, this would make them less likely to commit acts of

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...

than if they were wearing the usual dark blue uniforms. This proposal was never implemented. Baby blue is an official color used in the flag of

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

References