The Most Popular Types of Language Tattoos (2024)

People all across the globe get tattoos, in a variety of different languages, and often not their own. Language tattoos include everything from inspirational quotes and lyrics to names and phrases. But have you ever wondered what the most common type of language tattoo is?

As a tutoring service offering English lessons online and conversational English lessons, we at Preply have investigated what languages are trending this year and what countries have the most tattoo regrets from mishaps such as incorrect translations or spelling.

The most common type of language tattoos

Looking at the number of tagged Instagram posts and annual Google search demand we’ve discovered the top five types of language tattoos around the world.

Name tattoos are the most common type of language tattoos, with over 298,000 Instagram posts and 2.6 million annual Google searches. Commonly the name of a family member, a loved one who has passed, or a partner, many get name tattoos as a way to show they care and symbolize their affection.

Letter tattoos come in second with a total of 2.2 million Instagram posts and Google searches. Letter tattoos are simple and just feature a single letter, often the first letter of a name or place that is meaningful.

Ranging from inspirational to funny, quote tattoos are a great way to express your personality. Coming in third most popular type of language tattoo with 87,400 Instagram posts and 896,640 annual Google searches.

Whether it’s a feeling, action or something motivating, word tattoos can reflect an array of different thoughts and feelings. As the fourth most common type, word tattoos feature in 87,400 Instagram posts and get 535,200 annual Google searches.

Getting a lyric tattoo is also a popular language tattoo, coming in fifth overall with 150,320 total results on Instagram and Google. Lyric tattoos can vary in length and style, whether it’s a lyric that’s particularly meaningful or a line from a favorite song.

The most popular languages to get tattooed

You’re not limited to your first language when getting a language tattoo. Many opt to get foreign words or phrases tattooed on them. Some may prefer the look of certain languages, others may like the mystery of a language their peers won’t know.

Japanese tops the list of languages with an impressive 231,240 searches a year. It is closely followed by Chinese with 184,800 searches. This could be due to these languages using symbols in their writing that many may find aesthetically pleasing.

Arabic is the third most popular language to get tattooed, with 81,600 annual searches. Celebrities such as Selena Gomez, Angelina Jolie and Rihanna have Arabic tattoos, which could help boost their popularity.

At the bottom of the top 10 is English, with 9,240 searches. Hindi only just misses the top 10, coming in just after English with 8,040 searches.

The trending languages to get tattooed in 2022

Tattoo trends vary year on year. We’ve taken a look at which languages are most popular this year, based on the average year-on-year change in demand.

Tattoo’s written in Persian has seen the biggest change with a 312% increase in demand across the world year on year. Persian is an Indo-European language native to countries such as Iran and Afghanistan.

This is followed by Polish with a 200% increase and in third is Punjabi with a 129%+ increase.

The celebrities inspiring the world’s tattoo choices

The world’s favorite celebrities can have a big influence on people’s tattoo choices, whether you’re getting a lyric to one of their songs or a quote of theirs that you love.

With this in mind, we looked at search volumes for different celebrity tattoos to reveal the top 20 celebrities with the most influence.

Overall, Ariana Grande’s tattoos are the most researched online with over 1.3 million searches a year. The pop star is believed to have over 50 tattoos on her body ranging from film quotes to nicknames.

Searches peaked for Ariana Grande’s tattoos in 2019 after fans were quick to highlight a translation error on her Japanese language tattoo dedicated to her album “7 rings”. Instead, the tattoo actually translated to “shichirin” meaning a small barbecue grill in Japanese. Let this be a lesson to why online tutoring and taking language lessons, for example, online Spanish classes, is importantto grasp an understanding of the language or asking a native speaker to translate your tattoo before you get it done.

In second and third place is Harry Styles and Justin Bieber, both with over 1 million fans searching for their tattoos online each year. Other inked celebrities featured in the top 10 are Pete Davidson, Ben Affleck and Rihanna.

Foreign language tattoos tend to be popular with celebrities. Angelina Jolie, Selena Gomez and Rihanna all have tattoos in Arabic. Angeline Jolie also has a Latin tattoo, along with David Beckham.

Tattoo regrets: the countries with the most tattoo mishaps

Getting something permanently inked onto your body can often lead to regrets. With language tattoos, these regrets can stem from misspellings and mistranslations.

To reveal the areas with the most tattoo regrets, we analysed the search demand for tattoo removal and corrections in each country around the world.

The United States is the country with the most tattoo regrets, with over 1 million annual searches for people looking for tattoo removals every year.

Brazil and the United Kingdom make up the rest of the top three, with 275,040 and 217,200 searches respectively.

The UK cities with the most tattoo mishaps

We also looked analysed UK demand to reveal the top 10 UK cities had the most tattoo regrets.

In the UK, London has had the most demand for tattoo removals by far with 34,920 searches a year. This is followed by Birmingham with 4,800 and then Liverpool with 2,640 searches.

Edinburgh, Sheffield and Leicester are at the bottom of the top 10, with less than 2,000 searches each.

What to consider when getting your next language tattoo

Before committing to getting inked next time, we’ve spoken to experts to let you know what to think about before getting your next tattoo.

Lettering tattoo artist, Hinin Prod from Cologne, Germany commented:

“When looking at the most commonly used languages in the field of lettering tattoos, the social prism and its influences should be acknowledged. In multicultural cities, you meet many people from different cultures and environments. I have many requests for lettering in Japanese, Latin, Chinese, or Arabic. Old Nordic runes are also popular among ‘ink heads’ and could also be treated as lettering in their own way.

Despite being my country’s national language, German is not as popular from my experience. One of the most popular languages remains English – probably because English sounds “the coolest” and is on everybody’s mind being internationally mediatized for so many decades.

When it comes to the most common types of language tattoos, the majority of my clients request quotes, sayings, lines from a favorite song, or just individual words. Names are also popular, although people seem to become more and more cautious about such choices. It is common to see parents tattoo the names of their children. However, often the names are reduced to initials so that they do not obviously represent an existent person.

From my experience, the internet, especially Instagram and Pinterest, has been the biggest factor that drives people to get lettering tattoos. However, most tattoos from these sources are small word tattoos in the fine line area. Bigger tattoos are often equally desired by the customers as a saying or message. There is not much room left for real individuality. The internet has shown the beauty of tattoos to the masses, but it has also reduced the unique art in them.

All I can recommend to others is to choose the tattoo artist wisely and let him or her be creative with your idea. Do your research and always try to get a native speaker to advise on your language tattoos.”

Methodology and Sources

We analyzed global Google Search data to reveal the most popular type of language tattoos and celebrity inspirations based on their search demand online.

Data collected November 2022.