Colortone to HEX

Colortone to HEX – CSS Color Names to HEX Codes

Type a CSS color name – Tomato, steel blue, rebeccapurple – and get its exact HEX code. The input autocompletes as you type, and a table shows the same color as RGB, HSL, HSV, and CMYK. Tomato gives #FF6347, SteelBlue gives #4682B4.

Where CSS color keywords come from

Most of the names date back to the X11 window system of the late 1980s, whose rgb.txt file mapped words to screen colors. Early browsers borrowed that list, and CSS later standardized it. That history explains some odd results: DarkGray (#A9A9A9) is actually lighter than Gray (#808080), because Gray was redefined to match the HTML 4 value while DarkGray kept its X11 value. The newest name, RebeccaPurple (#663399), was added in 2014 in memory of Rebecca Meyer, daughter of CSS pioneer Eric Meyer.

Common names and their codes

Neighbors, measured with ΔE

When a keyword is almost right, it helps to know which names sit nearby. FowTools scores that with CIEDE2000, a perceptual formula whose ΔE result says how different two colors look rather than how far apart their numbers are. Tomato's nearest neighbors are Coral (ΔE 7.10) and OrangeRed (ΔE 8.12), so if Tomato feels too red, Coral is the natural next step. Names that tie at ΔE 0 – Aqua and Cyan, Fuchsia and Magenta – are simply two keywords for one color. Paste any HEX into the reverse tool to see its six nearest names.

Why convert a keyword to HEX

Design tokens, Tailwind configs, SVG exports, and native apps usually expect a HEX value rather than a CSS keyword. Converting also makes it easy to tweak the color later – for instance, adding an alpha pair like #FF634780. For channel values instead, see Colortone to RGB; to find a name for an existing code, use HEX to Colortone.