Periwinkle is a color in the blue and purple family. Its name comes from the small periwinkle or myrtle (Vinca minor), which gives flowers of the same colour. Periwinkle color is also called lavender blue. Periwinkle can be thought of as a pale shade of purple or blue, or as “pastel purple.” The first recorded use of periwinkle as a color name in English was in 1922.