Ever wonder why we called them redheads and not orangeheads? We looked into it.

Being a redhead is truly unique.

Whether or not you consider red hair fascinating, statistically only about two percent of the world's population has red hair.

The hue is caused by the mutation of the MC1R gene and results in pale skin, freckles and red hair, according to the Washington Post.

Some argue the pigment is closer to orange than red. According to the Cambridge dictionary, a redhead is a person, especially a woman, whose hair is a color between red, brown, and orange.

It begs the question, why is a person with that hair called a redhead?

But really, why do we call them redheads and not orangeheads?

Simply put, red is one of the three primary colors -- along with blue and yellow.

Regardless of language, research shows it's usually one of the first colors a culture names.

According to the Entomology Dictionary, the word "red" originated from the Proto-Germanic word 'rauthan' and the Proto-Indo-European root word 'reudh' in the mid-13th century.

One of the original uses of the term red dates back to 1297 in Europe when it was used in reference to revolutionary politics, signifying blood and violence.

The term orange is linked back to the 12th century and was originally used to signify the fruit in French, Latin, Italian, and Arabic according to the Entomology Dictionary. It stems from root words of those languages like orenge, pomum de orenge, narancia, and naranj.

Orange was not used as a word to signify color until the 1540s.

The term "redhead" likely comes from the simple need to refer to redheads in English before orange used was to describe the color. In other words, humans were describing redheads before they were describing anything as being the color orange. So, it just stuck.

Are you happy with the term redhead, or would you prefer to be called orangehead?

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