Top 57 Name Tattoo Ideas [2020 Inspiration Guide]

For a truly classic approach to ink, nothing can compare with the streamlined symbolism of name tattoos. These personally compelling text-based icons are the absolute definition of suave.

Name tattoos are today’s most vital declarations of a personal connection to someone else.

Modern romance has been redefined by the inception of these innovative emblems.

These lofty masterpieces are extraordinarily valiant and impressively divine, and part of the 50+ best tattoo ideas list. They showcase the zenith of dedication with minimal spatial requirements.

Of course, the font is an integral element of any name tattoo, so the typeface should be carefully deliberated. Cursive calligraphy is often considered to be the most romantic, but some guys simply prefer to keep it plain. Remember, you want to pick a format that will appeal to the person being honored without compromising your own personal sense of style.

Commitment is especially important with name tattoos, so make sure that your relationship is solid before immortalizing it with ink. Wives and girlfriends are the most common subjects of this kind of body art, so keep this in mind: If there is ever a falling out between you and your lady, the ink may inadvertently serve as a deterrent to future partnerships.

Despite the small disclaimer, these creations are still number one. Behold the might of name tattoos with our extensive arrangement of rousing options below!

Name Tattoo Ideas

Name tattoos on chest or over the heart are reserved for the most special people in your life and are an extremely popular tattoo concept. This is a beautiful example of a child’s name done in large, flowing script. This work would have been implemented using a single needle to get the crisp, clear effect from the lettering.

This tattoo uses almost graffiti style font to honor the man’s three daughters. It’s unique, as far as name tattoos go, because of the interestingly rendered ‘C’ to start Chasidy, Chloe, and Chayla’s names.

The beautifully wrought A in Alexandra gives this tattoo a degree of classical style hard to achieve. The artist has done a brilliant job of keeping this piece clean and elegant – it flows effortlessly across the inside forearm.

This tattoo of Blake mixes graffiti found in the Chicano style with a measure of Polynesian tribal. It’s large and bold, using the letters of the name for shading rather than the flourishes around the name as you’d usually expect.

A tattoo on the inner upper arm tends to be a good place for people looking to get words inked into their skin as it’s a good space to get a squarely rendered, well balanced set of words. This example again uses a nice, flowing script to pay homage to this man’s three daughters.

This is a nicely executed calligraphy style tattoo using a Chinese font. The letters been made to look realistic by creating the impression the word has been painted on with a horsehair brush instead of needle.

This is a modern take on Polynesian style, done with gun and needle rather than spike and chisel. This piece travels effortlessly across the skin, with the color gradients creating a consistent pattern through the entire artwork.

This name tattoo is unique and refreshing. Here the rope motif spells out the name Payton boldly along the man’s inner forearm.

This Nicholas tattoo utilizes an unusual font to good effect. There’s symmetry in the piece that the bordering highlights at the bottom employ well to form balance in the name.

This family name tattoo should be a source of great pride. Firstly, getting tagged down the ribs would’ve hurt plenty, and over a good deal of time. Second, the cursive font is handled exquisitely, especially the flow from silver-gray at the top of the wording down to the dark gray at the bottom.

This commemorative tattoo mixes some sharp lettering with the child’s footprint to create the full image honoring his son Lorenzo. This type of work is a mainstay in name tattoos given that society has become much more accepting of ink.

This version of Alex is beautifully worked. It’s a testament to the artist that all the flowing cursive meshes well together instead of becoming overwrought and hard to understand. The small amount of dotwork in the tattoo is a nice, unique touch.

Bold, graffiti style tattoos are great when done with a bit of style. This version of Kristy is that way – it creates the name from the part of the piece that isn’t tattooed and translates onto the skin effectively in the rose work comprising the rest of the art.

Such a well-drawn piece of imagery. The use of the names Jack and Alice to form such an extraordinary fish image is quite unique. Using a single gauge needle to make a crisp, concise tone of black ink adds to the structure of the work that may have been lost with a more traditional use of shadow.

This is a sublime use of font to create a standout inner forearm name tattoo. The sharp black line-work works perfectly with the style of font to render the names as if they’ve been drawn on lazily with a calligraphy pen.

A chest piece utilizing great traditional tattoo elements is always class. This tattoo uses the old school font with the classic heart of black to make a beautiful, balanced honorific artwork.

Tattoos that incorporate things such as heartbeat readings, ECGs, decibels, amps and things that end in gram are generally very cool. Doing this style tattoo with your child’s name and DOB is next level cool, especially with the Ming Jing font looking like it’s come straight from a top fashion label and placed onto Dad’s skin.

A different, but still exceptionally delivered version of the black heart tattoo mixed with no tattoo to form the word. This piece looks simple, but is difficult to execute due to its overall solidity and need for painstaking accuracy in forming the words.

This is a bold inner forearm piece. The heavy black of the lettering would’ve taken a heavy gauge needle to create, but when finished looks clean yet fearsome. The incisive, flowing cursive script is reminiscent of the Turkish written word (see chest tattoo), especially that deftly flourishing ‘l.’

Asian calligraphy lends itself to tattoo art because of its intrinsic beauty and flow. One thing to consider however, is making sure the script is absolutely 100% correct in translation before inking it into your skin- there have been many instances where the translation has been inaccurate or picked poorly and ruining the concept completely, or instead given you a part of the local Cantonese takeaway menu.

Emblazoning your family name across your back in traditional script is a common rite of passage for Polynesian men. This tattoo exemplifies that tradition – rich script in large letters flowing across his broad back, with shading and other flourishes adding style and depth to the overall image.

This small inner forearm tattoo is a funky take on the popular style of cursive. The twin ‘n’ to finish the name Lynn are unique, and well-drawn. The flowing highlights both above and below the name provide balance and depth to the total image.

This is a unique take on the negative space tattoo. The piece features a unique style of shading to create an inky gray for the words Robert Daniel to be carved out of. The tattoo is reminiscent of writing names in sand with your family at the beach and waiting for the tide to catch the letters.

Charlie here is a big and bold outer forearm tattoo. The artist expertly uses white ink to create highlights within the words. The first C is a cool, interesting character.

Taking a traditional banding tattoo using solid color and then creating a name tattoo from it using negative space creates a vivid piece of art. By using the non-tattooed skin here amongst solidity of blue/black the names are given quite an emphatic cast. 

This tattoo features a cursive style not dissimilar to which you’d find in your school texts as a kid. You would have to be able to replicate the free flowing, well put together running writing in order to pass the test needed to get your pen license and use a biro rather than a pencil.

Inside bicep text for this brilliant piece that looks like a mix between using a fat sharpie and graffiti. The thick black text is a great effect emboldened by the highlights through the middle that give it a slightly shiny look and break up the one-dimensional coloring.

This piece features the Chicano style cursive text used popularly in effects wardrobes for Hollywood gangsters.

Another fine execution of the newly born child tattoo. The artist has created a crisp, clean piece of text in Juliana Camilia, with the little lady’s handprint inked in nicely just above the wording.

This name tattoo utilizes some minimalistic principles of the full arrows in addition to flowing cursive script of each child’s name. It’s an understated and unique tattoo featuring sharp use of clean line work to create the finished product.

The positioning of these tattoos just under the clavicle bones are the highlights of this man’s commemoration of his sons Miguel and Liam. While inked in an awkward position they well drawn hollow script creates an excellent effect across the rest of his untattooed skin.

This inside forearm tattoo uses a heavy shading technique to give the piece a graffiti effect while the dark shading helps the artwork blend in with the other worded tattoos alongside.

Rather than have the words in a flat, heavy gray tone this tattoo uses the negative, clean space to form the words then inks around it. The highlights are done in almost a graffiti thickness of line.

This is cute – the name Zahra is tattooed simply along the edge of the hand between palm and top. This area can be a tricky place to get inked but has been done effectively by the artist on this occasion, who hasn’t tried to do it and instead used a relatively simple cursive script.

This wrist tattoo is extremely cool, using great attention to detail to create the forest theming in conjunction with the negative space that makes the name stand out.

Another tattoo using Polynesian methods, this work opts for a slightly more narrows script and limits the shading to create a nice bit of art.

This tattoo is a nice, minimalist take on the increasingly popular wedding band genre. It’s a very small piece of cursive text that has been inked in with precision in place of where a wedding ring would traditionally go.

This is a big and bold chest tattoo utilizing the entire chest to make a strong, archaic lettering script. The shading work uses great amounts of detail inside the letters to help it stand out, while there are some simple highlights on offer to aid the roman numerals connection to the rest of the work.

Name Tattoo FAQs

How much is a tattoo of a name?

Just like any other tattoos name tattoos are dependent on the size of the work as well as the skill and renown of the artist undertaking the piece you’ve chosen to etch permanently into skin.

A small name in simple Times New Roman font could be done quickly and cost as little as $100, while a full, commemorative family name done on your back in Polynesian tribal style may cost as much as $1500-$2000 and take ten hours to complete.

Most charges come by the hour – less experienced artists charge $75 – $100 per hour, while studio top dogs prices reach as much as $500 for an hour’s work. Having a clear understanding of your artist’s hourly rate and an expected length of time to take to complete your written piece is the best way to gauge the potential cost.

Are name tattoos bad luck?

Name tattoos are some of the most popular and sentimental bits of ink any man can opt for. They are not inherently bad luck – quite the contrary. When you think about your children, loved ones, or even the remembrance of deceased people special to you written tattoos are immensely important, and are well worth the permanent commitment.

Where men tend to have issues with luck and the written word tattoo comes under the umbrella of relationships. Statistically, tattoos most engendering regret from their subjects lie within relationships that have ended. 

Laser tattoo removal is gaining traction but can be very expensive. Most requests start with lovers’ names needing to be removed. This is also the case for many cover up tattoos, which can be tricky to execute and often need the services of expert tattoo artists to undertake to satisfaction.

It’s highly recommended to take the cautious approach and stick only to absolutes – kids, parents, family and football team – when choosing to get a name tattoo.