Memorial Tattoos Meaning, Design & Ideas

Memorial tattoos seek to honor and respect either an individual who has passed on or a significant event that deserves to be eternally remembered. These are extremely personal tattoos, but they’re also a source of pride for the owners.

If you have a loved one that you want to honor or you want to memorialize an event, then a memorial tattoo could be the perfect tattoo design to get. Below we will take a look at some of the most popular memorial tattoos and some design options that people often opt to use.

Some memorial tattoos serve as a personal tribute to a tragedy, within one’s family and friends or something with a global impact. These designs often have the dates of the events and will usually include any people who were involved in them. If you don’t want to get a heavily detailed memorial tattoo or you just want to keep it small, then simply putting the name of the event and the dates when it occurred will work, too.

A great idea for memorial tattoos honoring an individual is to think of all of the things they loved during their lifetimes. If they love to write or draw, incorporate some images that show that. If they were very family-oriented, then maybe add in portraits of more family members.

How your memorial tattoo is designed is 100 percent dependent on who you are and who they were. You might think that these things make the design process even tougher, but the truth is that thinking about those things and incorporating more personal images will make the final design that much more meaningful.

Symbols of a deceased loved one or tragic event, are often created with solemn tones in order to convey the loss that has been felt. These are never meant to be flashy designs, so most people will make sure that their memorial tattoos are situated away from any other tattoos they may have.

It’s not always easy to design these types of toned-down tattoos, so be sure that you work with an artist who has a lot of experience with them so you’ll end up with a toned-down and respectful design that you can be proud of.

R.I.P. tattoos are a popular method of honoring those who have passed on and can include the acronym as well as other symbols of death such as doves, roses, gravestones, crosses, etc. What may come as a surprise is that people get dates of birth instead of the names of the deceased more often than not. This actually enhances the meaning to most people since they choose to keep the name to themselves to show that they will never forget the person who passed away.

A more common way to commemorate a loved one is receiving a portrait tattoo of that individual. The portrait can also include the name of the deceased and the dates of their birth and/or death. The dates are often placed on a banner, adding an element of significance.

Some people have a tough time choosing an appropriate portrait to use, but the most important thing is to use one that you have always liked looking at and that gives you the best memories of that person. You definitely should not think about others’ opinions of the portrait since it is your memorial tattoo. Chances are everyone will love it since they know you love it enough to get it tattooed on your skin.

The infinity symbol (∞) is also found as a part of a memorial tattoo to serve as a reminder that the deceased’s spirit lives on. This is a great design element to add to show that the person or people are going through life with you. You can also get the infinity symbol alone if you want to keep all of a person’s information private while still having an excellent memorial tattoo.

Angel wings are commonly used as a part of a memorial tattoo to signify the descent of a loved one’s soul into Heaven. The wings can be attached to a heart or other symbol, or they can just be located right outside of the person’s name. The design is up to you, but you will want to take a look at a lot of wing designs before you settle on a pair. Wings actually look equally as nice on small shoulder tattoos as they do on large back pieces.

Favorite quotes or passages of scripture serve well to enhance the memory of the faithful. Frequently, the words will encircle a name or date of death, forming the shape of a heart or another design. You can get a favorite quote or scripture of the loved one or you can try to think of words that you both loved. If you decide to get scripture, it’s best to go with a short verse since they are much easier to design and place, and the words won’t dominate the memorial tattoo (unless, of course, you want them to).

Dates of birth and death are often included in these tattoos to memorialize the spectrum of the loved one’s life and are sometimes, but not always accompanied by the name or relationship that was shared. If you decide to include these elements, you’ll want to choose fonts that work well with other images in the tattoo. Some fonts don’t look as nice or as respectful as others in these designs, so be sure to talk to your artist about the best options for your specific tattoo.

Some people like to get tattoos of their loved ones’ handwriting as memorial tattoos. This is simply done by taking a piece of paper that they wrote on, giving it to your artist, and having them trace it onto your skin. This adds a more personal feel to the memorial tattoo and you can be sure that your design is unique. These are often tricky, though, since you want to get very meaningful words in your memorial tattoo but it can sometimes be hard to find the perfect ones in your loved one’s old belongings.

Larger memorial tattoos often incorporate many symbols or a larger scene to commemorate a tragic event significant to the individual. Memorial pieces for the events that occurred on September 11th (9/11) have become popular since the tragedy occurred. Firefighters are often included in these images to convey the heroism that was displayed that day.

There are plenty of ways to design your memorial tattoo, but the key to it is to add images that mean the most to you. For example, if you are getting a memorial tattoo for your mother, it’s up to you whether you include hearts, wings, religious designs, or anything else. Don’t feel compelled to add these things in simply because you’ve seen them in other tattoo designs. In fact, people are often happier when they take the time to come up with as unique a design as possible that would mean the most to the person being memorialized.

Where you place your memorial tattoo totally depends on the size of the design and how private or public you want it to be. Some people even want to keep their large portrait tattoos private by putting them on their backs. It is important to think about how much is actually going into your design before you commit to it since some tattoos will look much better in some locations over others.

As you can see, there is plenty to think about when you get a memorial tattoo. There are a lot of popular designs out there, but you can go in any direction with yours. Be sure to sit down with an experienced artist before you commit to a design so they can tell you where it can be placed and maybe even give you a few tips on how to improve the tattoo.

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