Eye colour in white populations

[crystallinegreen]

A friend of mine recently commented on my "unusual" dark brown eyes. I have touched on some genetics in my studies and I know brown eyes to be a dominant trait in white populations. And so "hah!" I told her, that is ridiculous, lots of people have brown eyes - surely.

 

Except I began to notice that the majority of people I came into contact with in my town in North East England did indeed have light coloured eyes. I became curious and started to count! In my university classes over one day (what!? I get bored!!) I encountered about 240 people, only 3 of which, including myself, had brown eyes. I also started to take note when out on the town, out shopping and on the bus - and to the best of my observational knowledge, brown and dark hazel eyes do indeed seem to be a pretty rare occurrence in my town.

 

Why might this be so? Is my understanding of genetics simplified to the point of inaccuracy? Does this denote strong sexual selection over time for lighter coloured eyes in the area? Or perhaps it indicates a strong celtic lineage in the population?

 

If anybody could clear this up for me I'd be extremely grateful. ^ ^

[Phi for All]

Dark brown eyes do seem to be dominant in southern European whites, where lighter colors dominate in the more northern regions. How long has your family been in the area? Is there any southern European or possibly Semitic ancestry present?

 

Here's a study that was done claiming to be able to predict brown and blue eye color from a minimum amount of genes. Not sure if that helps to trace backwards, though.