A Rose By Any Other Name: A Rose Tattoo’s Meaning

“A rose by any other name would smell as sweet . . .” – or whatever it was that Shakespeare said. Roses are a popular symbol of love, whether trying to fit in with a Valentine’s Day trend or just showing a lover that you’re thinking of them.

But are you thinking of getting a rose tattoo? It’s a popular tattoo design for both men and women, and it’s not just about love.

Before getting inked, here’s what you need to know: the many rose tattoo meanings that can apply to your next tattoo design.

List Of 25 Rose Tattoos For Women

The best thing about roses is that you can get them tattooed in any style or manner:

1. Geometric Rose Tattoo
2. Minimalist Rose Tattoo
3. Rose with Text Tattoo
4. Realistic Rose Tattoo
5. Rose and Butterfly Tattoo
6. Black Rose Tattoo
7. Hand Rose Bouquet Tattoo
8. Hand Rose Sleeve Tattoo
9. Watercolor Rose Tattoo
10. Name and Rose Tattoo
11. Gray and Black Rose Tattoo
12. Rose Vine Tattoo
13. Traditional Rose Tattoo
14. Neo-traditional Rose Tattoo
15. Blue Rose Tattoo
16. Yellow Rose Tattoo
17. Finger Ring Rose Tattoo
18. Dotwork Ring Rose Tattoo
19. Hip Rose and Heart Tattoo
20. Roses and Lace Tattoo
21. Ankle Rose Tattoo
22. Rose and Feather Tattoo
23. Dead Rose Tattoo
24. Cross With Rose Tattoo
25. Dead Rose Tattoo

Let’s see where some of the above tattoos look best on your body!

Rose Tattoos On Wrist

Rose tattoos on the wrist are popular for women looking to add a touch of femininity and elegance. One of the benefits of a wrist tattoo is its size. You can choose a rose tattoo as small or as large as you like in a subtle or bold design. Below are some rose tattoo designs that will look perfect on your wrist:

Geometric Rose Tattoo

If you are a fan of a triangle tattoo, this will be an ideal choice for you. A geometric rose tattoo on the wrist is a modern take on the classic flower design. The rose can be broken down into geometric shapes like triangles and hexagons to create a unique and eye-catching design.

Minimalist Rose Tattoo

A minimalist wrist rose tattoo is a subtle design that can evoke a special meaning or memory. The tattoo can be done in a single line or a simple outline to create a minimalist look.

Rose with Text Tattoo

The tattoo can also incorporate words or quotes to add a personal touch. You can choose some interesting fonts for the text, and the tattoo artist can use the rose to frame or complement the text.

Rose Tattoos On Neck

A rose neck tattoo is an excellent way to show off a beautiful design without it being too obvious. Below, you can find the most beautiful rose tattoo designs for women for the neck:

Realistic Rose Tattoo

A realistic rose tattoo is a popular choice for women who want a tattoo that looks like a real rose. This type of tattoo is typically done in black and gray ink to create a three-dimensional effect. The design can be small or large, and leaves or other flowers may accompany the rose – the choice is yours.

Rose and Butterfly Tattoo

A rose and butterfly tattoo for ladies is a beautiful and feminine design. The tattoo artist can design the rose realistically or more stylized, while the butterfly can be designed in various colors and sizes.

Black Rose Tattoo

A black rose tattoo is a style that uses only black ink to create elaborate designs. The black rose is associated with mourning, grief, and death. However, it can also represent themes that balance death and life or good and evil. Many women do not associate the black rose with any symbolic meanings – they just like how it looks on their skin.

Rose Tattoos On Hand

A rose tattoo on hand is a bold statement; it can be feminine and edgy. Here are our top choices:

Hand Rose Bouquet Tattoo

A rose bouquet tattoo on your hand is a great option if you want one that covers the whole back of your hand. This design can be done in black or colorful ink and may be designed in various styles, from realistic to stylized. The bouquet can include different flowers or focus solely on the rose.

Hand Rose Sleeve Tattoo

A rose hand tattoo that extends up the arm is a bold and dramatic option. Again, you can choose black ink or some other colors, and it can be designed in whatever style suits you the most. The focus can be the rose, but the sleeve can include different designs.

Rose Tattoos On Shoulder

A rose shoulder tattoo for women may be your best choice if you do not want your tattoo to be visible all the time. Here are some examples to help inspire you:

Watercolor Rose Tattoo

Watercolor tattoos are a newer style that uses watercolor techniques to create a softer, more fluid look. A watercolor rose tattoo on the shoulder can be a fantastic choice if you want a more feminine design.

Name and Rose Tattoo

A tattoo rose with a name on the shoulder is a fantastic way to honor someone you love. The style incorporates a name with a rose design to create a meaningful and personal tattoo. This design is a perfect idea for a couple’s tattoos.

Rose Tattoos On Thigh

One of the most popular locations for a rose tattoo is the thigh. This placement offers a lot of canvas to work with, allowing for larger designs:

Gray and Black Rose Tattoo

A grayscale rose thigh tattoo uses shades of gray and black to create a more realistic design. This will be a great choice if you want a more subtle and elegant design with a more subdued color palette.

Rose Vine Tattoo

A rose vine tattoo on your thigh is an amazing option if you want a larger, more complex design. These rose tattoo designs for women incorporate multiple roses and vines to create intricate designs. A rose vine tattoo wraps perfectly around the thigh and showcases the natural beauty of this flower.

Traditional Rose Tattoo

You cannot go wrong with a red rose tattoo if you want a classic design. This tattoo on the thigh often features bold outlines and bright colors such as red and green.

Rose Tattoos On Chest

The chest is a bold and meaningful area to get a rose tattoo. Here are the types of roses that will look great on your chest area:

Neo-Traditional Rose Tattoo

Neo-traditional tattoos are a modern twist on the traditional rose, using bold lines and bright colors but also incorporating elements of realism. A neo-traditional rose tattoo on your chest will suit you greatly if you are a fan of colorful designs with a touch of realism.

Blue Rose Tattoo

We all know that blue roses cannot be found as natural blossoms since they are artificially created. So, blue rose tattoos represent fantasy, impossibility, and mysteriousness. Two blue roses would look beautiful on your chest.

Yellow Rose Tattoo

The yellow rose symbolizes family well-being and happiness. Also, a popular rose tattoo meaning of this design is friendship. You can replace the stem with an inscription of a symbol or name and use such tattoos to express your love for your loved ones and friends. If you’d like the tattoo to be more vibrant, you can always opt for an amber rose tattoo.

Rose Tattoos On Fingers

Rose tattoo ideas for women have always been popular, and finger tattoos are becoming increasingly trendy. Combining the two creates a stunning look that many women are opting for. If you’re considering a rose finger tattoo, there are many creative designs to choose from, and here are our favorite ones:

Finger Ring Rose Tattoo

With this design, you can incorporate your love for roses into your jewelry collection since it looks like a ring but with the bonus of being permanent. And if you want a more personalized touch, you can add a loved one’s name or a meaningful quote to make the design more sentimental. 

Dotwork Finger Rose Tattoo

This design is perfect for the fingers, especially if you want something different from the traditional rose design. The dotwork minimalist design is versatile, so you can place it on any finger.

Rose Tattoos On Hip

The hips are a sexy yet subtle place to get inked. You can choose a single flower for your hip tattoo design or combine the rose with some other interesting design to get a bolder effect:

Hip Rose and Heart Tattoo

This is one of the loveliest and most romantic rose tattoo designs for women since it combines a heart and a rose. This tattoo represents love and passion, so you will get a meaningful and personal tattoo design.

Roses and Lace Tattoo

If you are up for a hotter tattoo design, black rose sketches with lace on your hip will be a bold choice. But you can even use bright colors for such a design to get a one-of-a-kind rose tattoo.

Rose Tattoos On Leg

A rose leg tattoo can be large or small, colorful or monochromatic, and can be placed on your ankle, thigh, or calf – the possibilities are endless:

Ankle Rose Tattoo 

A rose can also symbolize balance, so the ankle is the perfect place for the ink! You can wrap the rose around your leg or go for a single blossom. These tattoo designs are simple yet stylish works of art that suit any woman.

Rose and Feather Tattoo

Roses symbolize love and romance, whereas the feather is associated with hope and freedom. If you combine these two symbols, you can get a powerful and unique message. 

The rose and feather tattoo can represent many emotions, including freedom, love, and hope. A feather rose tattoo is also an excellent way to express your beliefs and values and can even represent your spiritual journey or quest. 

Dead Rose Tattoo

You can use a dead rose tattoo to show your devotion to a departed loved one. This tattoo design is used to honor those who have lost their lives. The black ink will balance the tattoo’s meaning, depicting resilience and hope. It is a heartfelt tribute that offers strength to anyone who has lost someone special.

Rose Tattoos On Lower Back

We also find this area stunning when inked! Whether you place the rose tattoo in the center or to one side will look amazing. Below are our favorite rose tattoo ideas for women in this area:

Cross with Rose Tattoo

If you want a tattoo that cherishes your faith, this is the design you should go for. The delicate roses will contrast with the geometric lines, creating a symbiotic piece of devotion and religion. You can choose a traditional cross or something a little more modern.

Two Roses Tattoo

You can choose the two roses pattern if you have found your soulmate. Besides love and passion, the red petals represent intense attachment. The leaves surrounding the roses can represent the comfort of a loving relationship. You can even include an anchor image representing your devotion to your partner.

Roses: From Red to Black

Roses are mostly found in Asia, Europe, North America, and northwestern Africa. You can find naturally red, white, yellow, and pink roses, but many florists offer roses in unnatural colors, like blue, by letting roses absorb dyes to get their intended color.

Roses are known for their beauty and fragrant scent. Although it’s generally associated with themes like love and Valentine’s Day, many cultures represent different meanings and symbols for roses.

But don’t let the beauty of a rose fool you: every rose has its thorns — literally. In their natural form, roses have spiky thorns along its stem. Anyone trying to pluck a rose from the ground may be unprepared for a sharp prick. It’s not poisonous, but it is painful. So unless you’re getting your roses from a florist, keeping your hands off rose bushes is best.

Love as the Meaning of a Rose Tattoo

Roses’ association with love dates back to Ancient Greek mythology, where the goddess of love, Aphrodite, was said to prefer roses over any other flower. She was often depicted with roses on her head, feet, and neck.

In Greek mythology, roses have pretty bloody origin stories. According to one myth, roses were originally white until Aphrodite wounded herself on a rose’s thorns and stained roses red with her blood. Another myth claimed that Aphrodite’s lover, Adonis, was killed, and a rose bush grew from his pool of blood.

Either way, roses symbolize the love that’s more than just a one-night stand. It’s an eternal love that surpasses time and death. This means you wouldn’t give roses to someone unless you cared about them. Or at least, that’s what it’s supposed to mean.

Yin and Yang, But Make It a Flower

Yin and yang are a popular choice for the concept of duality. But did you know that a rose is just as good of a symbol? A rose is known for its beauty, and this flower is known to signify, aside from love, concepts like hope, new beginnings, and promises. But the thorns contrast the beauty of the rose and represent the negative sides of life: disappointment, loss, and thoughtlessness.

You may think life is a bed of roses — until you remember that roses have thorns.

For the average Joe or Jill, life is not smooth sailing, and instead of a life filled with rose-scented candles and rose oil, you’re bound to get scratched by the thorns life has for you. Life has a balance, and you will experience both good and bad. But if you only focus on the thorns, you’ll never get to appreciate the beautiful flower on its own.

Roman Times: The Meaning of a Rose Tattoo

In the Ancient Roman Civilization, roses symbolized wealth as they required a lot of cultivation and attention to grow roses year-round. If you could light rose incense, shower yourself with rose petals, or even eat a dish garnished with rose petals, you were a high-roller in Rome and entitled to much respect. After Rome turned to Christianity, roses became a symbol of the Virgin Mary.

Wars of the Roses

English History associates roses with the civil wars in 15th century England for the control of the throne of England. Before the war, England was ruled by the royal House of Plantagenet. But after King Henry VI died with no child to inherit the throne, two cadet houses (the House of Lancaster and the House of York) fought for decades on which House was the rightful heir.

It was known as the War of the Roses because of the two houses’ badges: the Yorks had a white rose, whereas the Lancasters had a red rose.

After Henry Tudor of the Lancastrian side won the war in 1487, he decided to strengthen his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, the eldest daughter and heir of Edward IV, thereby uniting two strong claims to the throne and establishing the House of Tudor, symbolized by the united red and white roses.

Colored Roses

Red roses are popular for symbolizing romantic love, passion, and desire. They can also symbolize one’s sacrifice or honor the memory of a dead loved one. Other colors (both natural and artificial) have their specific meaning.

If you want a colored rose tattoo, here are options other than red.

• White roses symbolize purity, innocence, and peace. It’s usually associated with maidenhood due to the color white’s references to chastity and the Virgin Mary.
• Yellow roses are joyful and represent happiness. The color yellow is close to brown, and you may notice how older things turn yellow with age. This makes yellow a symbol of older, mature love — a perfect tattoo idea for older adults whose relationships have stood the test of time. However, be careful about yellow roses in Mexico and Spain, as these can symbolize death.
• Pink roses symbolize budding love. The color pink is the middle ground between red roses’ passionate sexual love and white roses’ pure love.
• Blue roses symbolize defiance, opportunity, and making the impossible possible. Blue roses do not grow naturally, so white roses need to absorb water mixed with blue dye until it reaches their desired shade.
• Black roses are commonly associated with death, but during funerals, they can also be a symbol of remembrance.

Dagger Through Rose Tattoo Meaning

A dagger tattoo doesn’t necessarily mean criminal affiliations, but has multiple ideas represented by it. It can represent a sharp pain you may have experienced: the death of a loved one, the betrayal of a partner, or even the sacrifice you’ve made in the hopes of a better life.

Like the pain of getting inked, that negative moment in your life will eventually get duller. And although you won’t feel the gutting pain in your heart as you originally did, you won’t forget the pain of surviving.

A dagger reminds you that you’ve survived the pain but don’t forget it. Let that dagger be a reminder, a promise, or a warning of the pain.

So what is the meaning behind a dagger through a rose?

A dagger is of cold and sharp steel, whereas a rose represents life with beauty and pain. It’s a good symbol to represent the beauty in pain and how life continued for the better after the worst (I mean, you could do a rainbow or a lightning bolt tattoo to symbolize that, but a dagger-rose combo is just edgier).

A dagger through a rose represents your life growing up through hardship but now living comfortably. It represents how you were at the lowest point in your life in the past, but, looking back, you’re not perfect but doing way better. If you believe there is light at the end of every tunnel, a dagger will always complement a rose’s beauty and pain.

Interested in Getting a Rose Tattoo?

Whether you get a rose tattoo inked on your hand (to symbolize how you love through action or simply because tiny tattoos on your hands are in fashion) or a complex tattoo across your back, roses say more than just “I love you.”

Rose tattoos aren’t limited to just men or women and are the perfect tattoo design for those who cherish the deeper meaning of a rose. Roses are beautiful, but they can be painful.

And hey, if you’re a tattoo fan, you probably already know a thing or two about pain.

Wrapping Up 

Rose tattoos are a beautiful and versatile choice for women looking to express themselves through body art. Whether you prefer a small, subtle, bold, or intricate design, the rose’s timeless beauty and symbolism make it a popular choice that will never go out of style. Finding one that perfectly captures your vision is simple because they come in various designs and styles. And most importantly, rose tattoos look amazing wherever you put them!

When creating stunning rose tattoos, the right equipment makes all the difference. The best tattoo machine guns have precise needles and adjustable features that can help artists create intricate designs with ease. Whether you’re a professional or a beginner, investing in a high-quality tattoo pen machine can ensure that your rose tattoo turns out beautifully and stands the test of time.

Rose Tattoo – FAQs

1) What does a rose tattoo on your lower back mean?

A rose on the lower back is one of the most popular choices of modern women. Rose tattoos on the lower back emphasize femininity and sensuality with their beautiful designs.

2) What do rose tattoos symbolize?

Roses are a timeless symbol of romance, devotion, beauty, trust, and grace. The classic red rose tattoos represent love and passion. Pink roses are associated with grace, affection, and gratitude; purple roses depict enchantment and royalty. 

3) Where do rose tattoos look best?

As you can see, rose tattoos can go anywhere on your body, depending on your preference. However, to show off your beautiful rose tattoo designs, you should consider tattooing your wrist, chest, neck, arms, or hands.

4) How much does having a rose tattoo on the neck cost?

The cost of a rose neck tattoo can vary depending on the size, design, and location. Tattoo artists typically charge by the hour. On average, a small rose tattoo can cost from $50 to $250, while larger designs can cost several hundred dollars.