Funny - I had a conversation with a friend about this exact topic the other day.<p>Painting a few (old) walls in my apartment.  I asked the original designer what color they were, and she confidently replied &quot;Swiss Coffee&quot;.  Great!  So I got to Lowes only to find out....there are about 35 different variations on Swiss Coffee.<p>We seem to have solved the color issue when it comes to programming - hex codes are (relatively) easy.  Why are we still choosing our home paints based on horribly arbitrary names like &quot;Shadow Mist&quot; and &quot;Lily Pond&quot; ... ?<p>(And yes, I know the actual answer - branding!  Why would you buy Brand A over Brand B if all the colors get commoditized into hex codes....the answer is...you wouldn&#x27;t.  So?  Fancy names for everyone!)