diff --git a/doc/users/colors.rst b/doc/users/colors.rst
index 18a5756f0ab5..94fe23ad0cbd 100644
--- a/doc/users/colors.rst
+++ b/doc/users/colors.rst
@@ -17,6 +17,9 @@ it can be provided as:
 * a name from the `xkcd color survey <https://xkcd.com/color/rgb/>`__
   prefixed with ``'xkcd:'`` (e.g., ``'xkcd:sky blue'``)
 * one of ``{'C0', 'C1', 'C2', 'C3', 'C4', 'C5', 'C6', 'C7', 'C8', 'C9'}``
+* one of ``{'vega:blue', 'vega:orange', 'vega:green',
+  'vega:red', 'vega:purple', 'vega:brown', 'vega:pink',
+  'vega:gray', 'vega:olive', 'vega:cyan'}``
 
 All string specifications of color are case-insensitive.
 
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/_color_data.py b/lib/matplotlib/_color_data.py
index 11a538f34722..d6244e1863f5 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/_color_data.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/_color_data.py
@@ -15,6 +15,23 @@
     'w': (1, 1, 1)}
 
 
+VEGA_COLORS = {
+    'blue': '#1f77b4',
+    'orange': '#ff7f0e',
+    'green': '#2ca02c',
+    'red': '#d62728',
+    'purple': '#9467bd',
+    'brown': '#8c564b',
+    'pink': '#e377c2',
+    'gray': '#7f7f7f',
+    'olive': '#bcbd22',
+    'cyan': '#17becf'}
+
+
+# Normalize name to "vega10:<name>" to avoid name collisions.
+VEGA_COLORS = {'vega:' + name: value for name, value in VEGA_COLORS.items()}
+
+
 # This mapping of color names -> hex values is taken from
 # a survey run by Randel Monroe see:
 # http://blog.xkcd.com/2010/05/03/color-survey-results/
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/colors.py b/lib/matplotlib/colors.py
index 8a7e99faa988..eb8133f3d03d 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/colors.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/colors.py
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@
 
 import numpy as np
 import matplotlib.cbook as cbook
-from ._color_data import BASE_COLORS, CSS4_COLORS, XKCD_COLORS
+from ._color_data import BASE_COLORS, VEGA_COLORS, CSS4_COLORS, XKCD_COLORS
 
 
 class _ColorMapping(dict):
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ def __delitem__(self, key, value):
 # Set by reverse priority order.
 _colors_full_map.update(XKCD_COLORS)
 _colors_full_map.update(CSS4_COLORS)
+_colors_full_map.update(VEGA_COLORS)
 _colors_full_map.update(BASE_COLORS)
 _colors_full_map = _ColorMapping(_colors_full_map)
 
@@ -250,7 +251,7 @@ def to_hex(c, keep_alpha=False):
 ### Backwards-compatible color-conversion API
 
 cnames = CSS4_COLORS
-COLOR_NAMES = {'xkcd': XKCD_COLORS, 'css4': CSS4_COLORS}
+COLOR_NAMES = {'xkcd': XKCD_COLORS, 'css4': CSS4_COLORS, 'vega': VEGA_COLORS}
 hexColorPattern = re.compile("\A#[a-fA-F0-9]{6}\Z")
 
 
@@ -401,7 +402,7 @@ class Colormap(object):
 
     """
     def __init__(self, name, N=256):
-        r"""
+        """
         Parameters
         ----------
         name : str
diff --git a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_colors.py b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_colors.py
index ebfc41aa53e3..eac575c79013 100644
--- a/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_colors.py
+++ b/lib/matplotlib/tests/test_colors.py
@@ -572,9 +572,10 @@ def angled_plane(azimuth, elevation, angle, x, y):
             assert_array_almost_equal(h, np.cos(np.radians(angle)))
 
 
-def test_xkcd():
+def test_color_names():
     assert mcolors.to_hex("blue") == "#0000ff"
     assert mcolors.to_hex("xkcd:blue") == "#0343df"
+    assert mcolors.to_hex("vega:blue") == "#1f77b4"
 
 
 def _sph2cart(theta, phi):