Why is it called Fifty Shades of Grey?

The “Grey” refers to the character Christian Grey, whom the narrator, Anastasia Steele, is involved with. One of the quotes he says about himself is that he is “fifty shades of fucked up” and she internally calls him “Fifty” or “Fifty Shades” (ie, she doesn’t verbally call him that). Therefore, I believe this is where the “Fifty Shades of” pattern comes from.

Christian Grey is an essentially fucked up individual with at least 50 different personalities. The expression “shades of gray” imply that something is elusive, or has multiple meanings and interpretations. 50 Shades of Grey is a title as well as a play on words to reflect Christian Grey’s personality.

The area between black and white, right and wrong, is the grey area. But, in fact it is not only not as clean as either or, it not as simple as one grey area in-between, there are many shades of grey between. The exaggerated version of this is to say that there are fifty shades of grey, which is a bit magnified in fear, if you are about to start testing the waters of S&M, as is the subject of this book. The fact that Grey is the name of the lead character billionaire that tempts the leading lady into progressively scarier sexual adventure makes it a pun, as well.