PHILADELPHIA -- Indian red is out. Chestnut is in.
After sifting through more than 250,000 suggested names, Crayola has renamed its reddish-brown crayon to avoid misunderstandings over the color's origin.The color indian red, which Crayola said was based on a reddish-brown pigment commonly found near India, was dropped because teachers complained students thought it described the skin color of American Indians.
The new name will appear on 15 million crayons each year beginning in September. It is only the third time in the company's 96-year history that a color has been changed.
"We were looking for a name that would be helpful to teachers working in the classroom, and we thought chestnut was appropriate," company spokeswoman Stacy Gabrielle said Monday.
Nearly 100,000 people from age 3 to 90 submitted names, including 155 people who suggested chestnut. Other popular suggestions included red clay, clay red and mars red.
Other rejected names included ginger spice, crab claw red, old penny and baseball mitt.
One person even suggested "the crayon formerly known as indian red," in honor of the rock musician formerly known as Prince.
The 155 people who suggested the winning name will be awarded a Certificate of Crayon Authorship and a 64-color crayon box containing the renamed crayon.
Crayola has renamed only two other colors.
In 1958, Prussian blue was renamed midnight blue because children could no longer relate to Prussian history, according to teachers.
In 1962, flesh was renamed peach to recognize that not everyone's skin is the same shade.
Indian red -- with a lower-case "i" -- debuted in the Crayola lineup in 1958, when the 64-crayon box was introduced.