What’s This Color Actually Called?
“It’s kind of a salmon-ish orange-pink.” That’s how most people describe colors in design reviews, and it’s not very useful. Saying “Coral” or “Tomato” is clearer, and those are actual CSS color names you can use directly in code.
Enter any HEX value and this tool finds the closest match from the 140+ CSS named colors. You’ll see the best match with a similarity percentage, plus the top 10 nearest alternatives. Enter #FF6347 and you get “Tomato” at 100%, it’s an exact match. Enter #FF5733 and you’ll likely get “Tomato” or “OrangeRed” at a high (but not perfect) percentage, with Coral and Red in the runner-up list.
140 Names for 16.7 Million Colors
Here’s the limitation: CSS defines about 140 named colors, but there are 16.7 million possible RGB values. Most hex codes won’t have an exact match. The tool uses Euclidean distance in RGB space to find the closest one and tells you how close it is. Even a 90% match can look noticeably different, so always check the visual comparison swatch.
The color names themselves are a mix of the practical and the absurd. You’ve got straightforward ones like Red, Blue, and Green. Then there’s MediumSpringGreen, PaleVioletRed, and the legendary LightGoldenRodYellow. Some of these names go back to the original X11 color set from the 1980s.
When Names Beat Hex Codes
Design reviews. “Let’s change that button to Coral” is something everyone in the room understands. “#FF7F50” makes most people’s eyes glaze over.
Quick CSS. Writing color: tomato; is valid CSS and sometimes cleaner than a hex code for prototyping. Every browser since IE3 supports these names.
Documentation. Style guides for non-technical stakeholders benefit from color names alongside hex values. “Primary accent: Coral (#FF7F50)” communicates to both designers and engineers.
Content writing. Blog posts and tutorials that reference colors by name are more accessible than ones that throw hex codes at readers.
The Tailwind Color Finder matches against the Tailwind palette specifically, the Material Color Finder against Google’s Material Design system, and the Color Picker helps you nail down the exact color before looking up its name. Everything runs in your browser.