Why do people get their SO's name tattooed on their body?

You answered your own question: ”[...] many people feel it’s necessary to prove their love to someone by tattooing their SO’s name on their body.”

Then why doesn’t it work when most couples break up?

@Alleycat8782: the tattoo doesn’t increase the chances of a couple breaking up ;)

Seems like a good idea at the time.

My friend wanted to get the name of every girlfriend he has on his chest, then when they break up, get a gravestone around it.

I wouldn’t say it’s a death sentence for a relationship.

My husband has my name tattooed on his bicep. It was done as a joke. And because he loves me, of course ;)

That’s what happens when you use your heart instead of your head. It’s why dumb teens have kids, people are against abortion, and why people end up in jail or hurt over trivial words that they could’ve walked away from.

Because they’re insecure in their relationships.

I’ve got a list going down my right arm. I like it. It reminds me of the men I’ve loved and gives them something to aim for. ;)

Some people like a physical manifestation of an intangible thing.

I’ve never really seen that. I’ve seen people tattoo the names of their children on themselves, but seldom have I seen the names of significant others.

I may just not get out enough though.

id get children tattooed on me, but not their name, something that represents them, and will always represent what they mean to me.

Because that’s what they’re INKlined to do, & boom goes the dynamite.

A false belief in the permanence of feelings.

Because nothing looks better than bad artwork on your….everybody knows that :)

It’s just in case they forget the person’s name.

It might make them feel as if they feel more for that person than they really do – same reason people rush into proposals, having babies – all band-aids that are only good for a bit at having you not focus on what’s wrong with your relationship but are not ever-lasting. I wouldn’t get my husband’s name tattooed on my simply because I like more complex work on my body and am really into tattoos but I could see it being incorporated into a tattoo. And I don’t think it’d cause us to break up, that’s stupid. And I wouldn’t be doing it to show my love, we already show our love, but I’d do it because he is such a significant part of my life, I’d want that put on my body.

Wouldn’t it be better to ask why would anyone permanently deface their body with a tattoo. I know that young people are just following a fad. Piercings, as grotesque as they are can heal, a tattoo is forever. Don’t they realize that they will age and that nice eagle will look like a withered pigeon when they’re 60?

Additionally a persons SO at 20 may not be the same as their SO at 50. There doesn’t appear to be any forward thinking or planning for people that get tattoos.

@Ron_C Wow, I wish I had the hours and the patience to even begin to counter everything that’s wrong with that answer.

@Ron_C You’re very misinformed. I have never regretted any of my tattoos, nor did I ever get any impulsively. And I happen to be more beautiful because of them.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir whether anyone gets tattoo or not is obviously not my business. When I was in my twenties the only people that got tattoos were sailors that were drunk and had buddies that a new tattoo was a good joke.

Every time I see a tattoo on a young person, I cringe because they have permanently (in my opinion) marred flawless skin.

I guess that my opinion of beauty is decades out of style. I did not mean to offend anyone but “body art” and piercings are a sore point with me. Anything that permanently changes a person’s body seems wrong to me. I would not object to plastic surgery to correct a problem but I couldn’t take a fellow engineer as a serious person if his or her body was covered in pictures.

@Ron_C Well, that’s your issue to work out then because a person’s abilities don’t change based on whether or not they ‘marred their flawless skin’.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir of course you are correct. Here is the way I see it. I try to avoid pain as much as possible and expect that a rational person would do the same. The way I understand it, the bigger the tattoo, the more the pain and the longer it lasts. If I felt that I needed a little pain and wanted to do good at the same time, I’d donate blood.

I just can’t look at a tattoo or facial piercing without empathising with that person’s pain. Then to create a permanent record of it is beyond my comprehension.

@Ron_C You’ve seen my backpiece – the concept and what the painting stands for was worth the pain for me – I didn’t chase the pain, so to speak though I don’t care that it hurt – it was a transcending experience putting a painting on me by a man I admire.