I have always been fascinated with the Crayola crayon names. Ever since I was little, I loved how the names of the crayons fit their hues perfectly. Or at least they seem perfect to me.
According to Crayola’s website, the crayon’s have gotten their names from “a book called ‘Color: Universal Language and Dictionary of Names.’ and also would get names from special consumer promotions.
In 2017, Crayola’s newest consumer named crayon, was a blue color. Customers across North America could vote for this new crayon to be named. The name chosen was “Bluetiful.”
In 1992, there was another similar contest, but this time with a wider arrangement of colors. Kids and Adults alike could make up creative names for the Crayola crayons. This was the first time in Crayola history that anyone outside of Crayola named any of the colors.
I know what you’re thinking, why does this matter? They’re just crayons. To be completely honest, I have no idea either. But it’s history! Crayola is a company that has almost set the standard for basic art supplies. They aren’t the highest quality, I will admit, but they’re a household name. Nobody was using Prismacolors at two years old.
Now let’s dive into my personal favorite shades and color names.
Macaroni and Cheese- This is one of those names that I just loved as a kid, and still love to this day. I remember not even being too crazy about the color, but I sure did love the name. It holds true to this day. I love Mac n’ Cheese with my whole heart, and would love to use a crayon named after it.
Periwinkle– Ahhh, a true classic. There isn’t too much to say other than it’s a color that stays throughout the years. I think this is the color that sparked my love for pastels.
Purple Mountains’ Majesty– I remember being an eight year old and reading this color name and thinking, ‘why?’ Who sat down to name this purple color. I can tell you who! The lady who named this oddity is Mildred Sampson. She was 89 at the time, and she got to name this crayon through the aforementioned, 1992 Crayola naming contest. Upon further inspection of the name, it refers to a lyric in the song, “America the Beautiful.” The song was originally a poem, but it has morphed into an American patriotic song. You learn something new everyday!
Cadet Blue– I’m gonna be honest here, 8 year old me had no clue what a Cadet was. I kind of just thought it was a pretty name. Despite me not knowing the meaning behind the color then, I appreciated the color a lot. It was a frequent crayon I used in my collection. 11/10 would recommend using this shade. I realize now that Periwinkle and Cadet Blue are similar in shades, but they still have their own uniqueness!
I went a lot deeper into the history of these names and colors than I thought I would. If anyone would like to take the same journey I did, then here are the links I used!
http://www.jennyscrayoncollection.com/2015/07/96-limited-edition-name-new-colors.html
http://www.crayoncollecting.com/ccolor21.htm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_the_Beautiful
cadet blue is a god sent.
I love this post so much it legit just made my entire day. crayons are the best.
periwinkle is my favorite! it just sounds like such an aesthetically pleasing name, plus she’s a cool character in the tinkerbell series!
keep up the good work!!
Seeing this made me think back to when I was a child using Crayolas. I always would read the labels before I used each crayon- I’m glad someone found the same fascination with the names as I did when I was younger!