Radagast the Green?

[Lalwendë]

I've often wondered if the colours had any significance but if I explore this too far I get tangled and things would become too difficult to explain with evidence from the texts, so here's my simple explanation .

Gandalf's 'Grey' I think may come quite literally from his appearance - he was the most well-travelled wizard that we know of, in terms of mixing with people in Middle earth, and his fame itself may have earned him a nickname. i also like to think that maybe his nickname may have arisen from his method of giving advice - he encourages those he talks to to think through the options and consequences, to consider the 'grey' areas, e.g. Frodo at first sees Gollum's survival as an issue with a clear answer, but Gandalf encourages him to see it another way.

I think that Saruman's 'White' title comes from his position as head of the Istari - he is recognised as such by Cirdan on his arrival, and goes on to be head of the White Council. White would be an appropriate designation for the wizard who took this position as White could be said to symbolise Light. When Saruman breaks the Light to see what it is made from, he then becomes Saruman of Many Colours. Gandalf then is able to take or be given the title 'White' as it has in effect become free.

As to why there are two 'Blue' wizards, I think possibly it is that Tolkien simply did not designate them separate colours as they were something of an afterthought in the writing process - though 'Blue' is a good choice of title for two wizards who effectively disappeared off into 'the blue yonder'. And I think 'Brown' is appropriate for Radagast, as he is close to nature, and brown is suitably 'earthy'. On the Encyclopedia of Arda site it interstingly quotes the Old English word 'rudugast', meaning 'brown spirit' as a possible origin though it does point out that there is no evidence for this.

[Elu Ancalime]

I suppose if Alatar took Pallando 'as a friend' they would be on the same terms, or rank.

I don't think the Valar and the others at that council could make too much of an assumption of rank, at least not beyond any foresight. If the original Istari were Curumo and Alatar, Then if you did nto know much about them, it might go like this:

Sauruman The White
Alatar the Blue (These could be interchangable)

Gandalf the Grey
Radagast the Brown

and ideally, how i would think anyway, is that Pallando might not have been given 'wizard powers', but perhaps a little like if gandalf had a Frodo Clone he went everywhere with. So essentially he is on Alatar's rank (Blue), but I would think he would be lesser than Alatar. But then Cirdan said:

Sauruman (White)
Gandalf (Grey)
Radagast (Brown)
Alatar (Blue)
Pallando (Blue)

And of course then later Cirdan and Galadriel said Gandalf was really stronger, and Sauruman was cast out, and Alatar and Pallando dissappeared, and I guess Radagst forgot he might go back to Aman, or he didnt want to, or he got in an argument with an Eagle.So i think the idea was to have the wizards on the same rank, that is, working together with no one of them taking domination, yet their 'personal' intrests seperated them.
Also I was thinking, did the wizards (all five) only meet together, like formally, at that council in Aman? Because if they each showed up at different times, and spread out across ME, they would be a bit long distance for business partners.
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Naruto forums

[Raynor]

Did the returning Noldor name The Grey-Elves after their position between the Light and the Dark, or the colour of their raiment?

In the Silmarillion, they are named also elves of the twilight; apparently, the noldor named them so because the first Elves of this origin whom they met with were in the north, under the grey skies and mists about Lake Mithrim.

EDIT: I found this interesting note in Quendi and Eldar, HoME XI:

Mithrim was a name given to them by the southern-dwellers, because of the cooler climate and greyer skies, and the mists of the North. It was probably because the Noldor first came into contact with this northerly branch that they gave in Quenya the name Sindar or Sindeldi 'Grey-elves' to all the Telerin inhabi- tants of the Westlands who spoke the Sindarin language. Though this name was also later held to refer to Elwe's name Thingol (Sindikollo) 'Grey-cloak', since he was acknowledged as high-king of all the land and its peoples. It is said also that the folk of the North were clad much in grey, especially after the return of Morgoth when secrecy became needed; and the Mithrim had an art of weaving a grey cloth that made its wearers almost invisible in shadowy places or in a stony land. This art was later used even in the southern lands as the dangers of the War increased.

[Elu Ancalime]

I thought it to be thier position to the Great Journey: Moriquendi (mori literally meaning black) being elves who did not see the Two Trees, though usually assumed for Avari, could be Black. The High Elves, Caliquendi, (Light approx. White), saw the Light of the Trees, and made it to Valinor. The Grey-Elves were those that accepted the Journey, but did not go directly to Valinor, (the Sindar, elves under Thingol Greymantle)
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Lincoln continental mark v

[Gil-Galad]

the colours could repersent the Valar they served at first

[radagastly]

I tend to think that it is very likely that we are all trying to read more into Tolkien's choice of colors than is actually there. I think the colors were chosen spontaneously. That is, their colors were meant to be strictly a "psychological" impact on the reader. "White" has it's impact on the reader as pure and unstained, PERFECT. "Grey" is inherently undefined, transitional, mobile yet natural, unassuming. "Blue" is mysterious, ("why is the sky blue, Daddy?) infinite like the sky, angelic. "Brown" implies Nature, forests and fields, trees and soil. I guess I don't think the Valar chose the colors, Tolkien did, as he wrote.