Which is the correct phrase?
- Name of colours
- Names of colour
- Names of colours
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3 Answers
I'm not a native speaker, but I strongly believe 3. is the correct phrase.
This is so because there is more than one name, and there is more than one colour, so both "name" and "colour" should be plural.
"Names of X", when X is singular, could be correct only if X was a single, unique, object / animal / person and if it had more than one name.
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This is circular reasoning. Just because one of OP's offerings pluralizes both words doesn't mean his (unspecified) meaning is that there is more than one name, and more than one colour. We have no idea what OP means, because he doesn't say. Commented May 25, 2016 at 18:43
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2@FumbleFingers Well, all the offerings are about colours, and all of them pluralize at least one word. Since I cannot think of two colours with the same, nor of one colour with two names, I answered with the most reasonable (IMO) offering. Had the question been more general ("should I write names of X or name of X, if X is plural?"), I wouldn't have given such an answer. Commented May 25, 2016 at 19:03
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Fushsia and magenta are two names for the same colour. Perhaps "Names of colour" could mean names that are colourful, interesting, or unusual (like @FumbleFingers)?– nnnnnnCommented May 26, 2016 at 3:10
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@nnnnnn: Or indeed, given persons of colour, perhaps names of colour might be used to refer to names often associated with non-whites in Anglophone communities. Commented May 26, 2016 at 13:14
Upvoted A. Darwin, but just to add:
If you're talking about one color, use the singular. "What is the name of the color of that piece of paper?"
If you're talking about many colors, use the plural. "What are the names of the colors in that painting?"
"Names of color" would make sense if there were many names for one color. Like, "I call this 'red', but my wife has many names for this color: red, burgundy, crimson, cherry, etc." Or if you were talking about names in multiple languages: the French call it "rouge" and the Germans call it "rot" and so on.
"Name of colors" indicates there is one name for many colors. Perhaps if you were talking about many shades of a color, you could say "The name of all these colors is 'red'." Or if you were talking about some set of colors. "The name of the colors on this palette is 'palette 7'." Though we'd be more likely to say that's the name of the palette than of the colors.
I would use
- Names of color - if they were multiple names for the same color
- Names of colors - if they were just a list of color names (pink, red, green, etc.)
- Name of colors - if you had the same name describe multiple colors (unlikely)
Hope that helps.
