diff --git a/Documentation/config.txt b/Documentation/config.txt
index 83e7bba..08b13ba 100644
--- a/Documentation/config.txt
+++ b/Documentation/config.txt
@@ -263,7 +263,9 @@
 +
 The basic colors accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`, `yellow`,
 `blue`, `magenta`, `cyan` and `white`.  The first color given is the
-foreground; the second is the background.
+foreground; the second is the background.  All the basic colors except
+`normal` have a bright variant that can be speficied by prefixing the
+color with `bright`, like `brightred`.
 +
 Colors may also be given as numbers between 0 and 255; these use ANSI
 256-color mode (but note that not all terminals may support this).  If
diff --git a/color.c b/color.c
index ebb222e..64f52a4 100644
--- a/color.c
+++ b/color.c
@@ -24,6 +24,14 @@
 	GIT_COLOR_RESET,
 };
 
+enum {
+	COLOR_BACKGROUND_OFFSET = 10,
+	COLOR_FOREGROUND_ANSI = 30,
+	COLOR_FOREGROUND_RGB = 38,
+	COLOR_FOREGROUND_256 = 38,
+	COLOR_FOREGROUND_BRIGHT_ANSI = 90,
+};
+
 /* Ignore the RESET at the end when giving the size */
 const int column_colors_ansi_max = ARRAY_SIZE(column_colors_ansi) - 1;
 
@@ -61,15 +69,38 @@
 	return 0;
 }
 
-static int parse_color(struct color *out, const char *name, int len)
+/*
+ * If an ANSI color is recognized in "name", fill "out" and return 0.
+ * Otherwise, leave out unchanged and return -1.
+ */
+static int parse_ansi_color(struct color *out, const char *name, int len)
 {
 	/* Positions in array must match ANSI color codes */
 	static const char * const color_names[] = {
 		"black", "red", "green", "yellow",
 		"blue", "magenta", "cyan", "white"
 	};
-	char *end;
 	int i;
+	int color_offset = COLOR_FOREGROUND_ANSI;
+
+	if (strncasecmp(name, "bright", 6) == 0) {
+		color_offset = COLOR_FOREGROUND_BRIGHT_ANSI;
+		name += 6;
+		len -= 6;
+	}
+	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(color_names); i++) {
+		if (match_word(name, len, color_names[i])) {
+			out->type = COLOR_ANSI;
+			out->value = i + color_offset;
+			return 0;
+		}
+	}
+	return -1;
+}
+
+static int parse_color(struct color *out, const char *name, int len)
+{
+	char *end;
 	long val;
 
 	/* First try the special word "normal"... */
@@ -89,12 +120,8 @@
 	}
 
 	/* Then pick from our human-readable color names... */
-	for (i = 0; i < ARRAY_SIZE(color_names); i++) {
-		if (match_word(name, len, color_names[i])) {
-			out->type = COLOR_ANSI;
-			out->value = i;
-			return 0;
-		}
+	if (parse_ansi_color(out, name, len) == 0) {
+		return 0;
 	}
 
 	/* And finally try a literal 256-color-mode number */
@@ -109,10 +136,15 @@
 		else if (val < 0) {
 			out->type = COLOR_NORMAL;
 			return 0;
-		/* Rewrite low numbers as more-portable standard colors. */
+		/* Rewrite 0-7 as more-portable standard colors. */
 		} else if (val < 8) {
 			out->type = COLOR_ANSI;
-			out->value = val;
+			out->value = val + COLOR_FOREGROUND_ANSI;
+			return 0;
+		/* Rewrite 8-15 as more-portable aixterm colors. */
+		} else if (val < 16) {
+			out->type = COLOR_ANSI;
+			out->value = val - 8 + COLOR_FOREGROUND_BRIGHT_ANSI;
 			return 0;
 		} else if (val < 256) {
 			out->type = COLOR_256;
@@ -166,23 +198,26 @@
  * already have the ANSI escape code in it. "out" should have enough
  * space in it to fit any color.
  */
-static char *color_output(char *out, int len, const struct color *c, char type)
+static char *color_output(char *out, int len, const struct color *c, int background)
 {
+	int offset = 0;
+
+	if (background)
+		offset = COLOR_BACKGROUND_OFFSET;
 	switch (c->type) {
 	case COLOR_UNSPECIFIED:
 	case COLOR_NORMAL:
 		break;
 	case COLOR_ANSI:
-		if (len < 2)
-			BUG("color parsing ran out of space");
-		*out++ = type;
-		*out++ = '0' + c->value;
+		out += xsnprintf(out, len, "%d", c->value + offset);
 		break;
 	case COLOR_256:
-		out += xsnprintf(out, len, "%c8;5;%d", type, c->value);
+		out += xsnprintf(out, len, "%d;5;%d", COLOR_FOREGROUND_256 + offset,
+				 c->value);
 		break;
 	case COLOR_RGB:
-		out += xsnprintf(out, len, "%c8;2;%d;%d;%d", type,
+		out += xsnprintf(out, len, "%d;2;%d;%d;%d",
+				 COLOR_FOREGROUND_RGB + offset,
 				 c->red, c->green, c->blue);
 		break;
 	}
@@ -279,14 +314,12 @@
 		if (!color_empty(&fg)) {
 			if (sep++)
 				OUT(';');
-			/* foreground colors are all in the 3x range */
-			dst = color_output(dst, end - dst, &fg, '3');
+			dst = color_output(dst, end - dst, &fg, 0);
 		}
 		if (!color_empty(&bg)) {
 			if (sep++)
 				OUT(';');
-			/* background colors are all in the 4x range */
-			dst = color_output(dst, end - dst, &bg, '4');
+			dst = color_output(dst, end - dst, &bg, 1);
 		}
 		OUT('m');
 	}
diff --git a/t/t4026-color.sh b/t/t4026-color.sh
index 671e951..c0b642c 100755
--- a/t/t4026-color.sh
+++ b/t/t4026-color.sh
@@ -30,6 +30,14 @@
 	color "bold red" "[1;31m"
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'aixterm bright fg color' '
+	color "brightred" "[91m"
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'aixterm bright bg color' '
+	color "green brightblue" "[32;104m"
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'color name before attribute' '
 	color "red bold" "[1;31m"
 '
@@ -74,6 +82,10 @@
 	color "0 7" "[30;47m"
 '
 
+test_expect_success '8-15 are aliases for aixterm color names' '
+	color "12 13" "[94;105m"
+'
+
 test_expect_success '256 colors' '
 	color "254 bold 255" "[1;38;5;254;48;5;255m"
 '