Name tattoo: best ideas and meaning

Name tattoos: meaning and symbolism

A name is the most direct way to carry someone with you. The overwhelming majority are children's names, often paired with a date of birth or the exact time. The second group is memorial work with the name of a parent or grandparent, where we frequently transfer their actual handwriting from a letter or a signature.

A partner's name is its own subject, and we will not tiptoe around it: it is among the most frequently covered-up tattoos in existence. That is not a reason to avoid it, only a good reason to pick a size and placement that could be reworked sensibly if it ever came to that. With children and parents the question does not arise.

Setting a name so it lasts

Short text tempts people into going small, and with lettering that comes back to bite. Thin lines spread slightly in the skin over the years, so narrow gaps between letters close up and elegant script turns into a smudge. We would rather add a couple of millimetres than sit on the edge of legibility – you will barely notice the difference on the day, but you will in ten years.

If you plan to add more names over time, tell us at the start: we will lay the composition out so the next one fits the same line and the whole thing still reads as one piece rather than a list. And for names in Czech, the accents deserve their own attention – see Czech lettering.

Styles, designs and placement

Fine line work leads our gallery – script that reads like handwriting, and plain sans-serif. The strongest option of all is genuine handwriting transferred from paper: a signature, a dedication, or the name written by that person's own hand. A name stands alone or takes a small symbol, a heartbeat line or a red accent. The minimal version is initials.

We most often tattoo names on the forearm, wrist, collarbone, ribs, neck and inner arm. A longer name needs a flat surface so it can be read in a single line. It heals quickly and is the most common choice for a first tattoo.

Our artists will prepare several typefaces and layouts so you can see the name side by side in different forms before you decide. We work in English, Czech and Russian.