Navy blue got its name from the dark blue (contrasted with naval white) worn by officers in the Royal Navy since 1748 and subsequently adopted by other navies around the world. When this color name, taken from the usual color of the uniforms of sailors, originally came into use in the early 19th century, it was initially called marine blue, but the name of the color soon changed to navy blue.[2]
An early use of navy blue as a color name in English was in 1840[3] though the Oxford English Dictionary has a citation from 1813.
Indigo dye is the color that is called Añil (the Spanish word for "indigo dye") in the Guía de coloraciones (Guide to colorations) by Rosa Gallego and Juan Carlos Sanz, a color dictionary published in 2005 that is widely popular in the Hispanophone realm.
Indigo dye is the basis for all the historical navy blue colors, since in the 18th, 19th, and early 20th century, almost all navy uniforms were made by dyeing them with various shades of indigo dye.
The color Persian indigo is displayed at right. Another name for this color is regimental because in the 19th century it was commonly used by many nations for navy uniforms, though it is seldom used in modern times.
Persian indigo is named for an association with a product from Persia: Persian cloth dyed with indigo.
The first recorded use of regimental (the original name for the color now called Persian indigo) as a color name in English was in 1912.[6]
Space cadet is one of the colors on the Resene Color List,[7] a color list widely popular in Australia and New Zealand. The color was formulated in 2007.
This color is apparently a formulation of an impression of the color that cadets in space navy training would wear.
The color navy was one of the original 16 HTML/CSS colors initially formulated for standardized computer display in the late 1980s.
Military
In many world navies, including the United States Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy, uniforms which are called "navy blue" are, in actuality, colored black, as the uniforms became progressively darker over time to counter fading of the dye, though for modern dyes are fade resistant. The Canadian Forces dress instructions specify that "'navy blue' is a tone of black".[8] (See also uniforms of the United States Navy and uniforms of the Canadian Forces.)
Music
Navy Blue is an album by Diane Renay (all the songs are about sailors).[9]
Sports
Navy blue is used by numerous professional and collegiate sports teams:
^Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York: 1930 McGraw-Hill Page 168 Discussion of color navy blue
^Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 103; Color Sample of Navy blue: Page 131 Plate 40 Color Sample E11
^Gallego, Rosa; Sanz, Juan Carlos (2005). Guía de coloraciones (Gallego, Rosa; Sanz, Juan Carlos (2005). Guide to Colorations) Madrid: H. Blume. ISBN84-89840-31-8
^The color displayed in the color box above matches the color called regimental in the 1930 book by Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill; the color regimental is displayed on page 117, Plate 47, Color Sample C10.
^Maerz and Paul A Dictionary of Color New York:1930 McGraw-Hill Page 203 (It is also stated under the entry on Persian Blue on page 201 that the color on Plate 47 Color Sample C10 (regimental) is a [darker] tone of Persian Blue.); color sample of Regimental: Page 117 Plate 47 Color Sample C10
