... via a retweet by mr nja of this parish ...
The names of colours in HTML / X11 do indeed (partially) come from paint samples and crayon colours
http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-style/2014Mar/0272.html
I remember Mr Snips, whom God preserve, of Utrecht, saying this and it has always seemed self evident to me that this is the most likely explanation.
