117 RIP Tattoos To Keep Your Loved One’s Memories Alive

Departed, but loved. That’s how we feel for our loved ones who have crossed the next life. But despite their absence in our daily lives, their memories still matter. Their presence may not be in a physical aspect. But in our hearts, they are always there, guiding and protecting us.  If you want to keep their memories close to you, a tattoo about them isn’t just sweet and personal. It’s unique too! So, we have gathered hundreds of RIP tattoos that you can check for your next ink.

In memory of your parents, family members, loved ones, friends who have expired, you can have them as your tattoo. There have been a lot of people who already have tattoos that remind them of the people who have departed. And those who held memories and love for them.

Many designs are great enough. But this collection will be your ultimate guide in getting your first or your next tattoo. It doesn’t matter where you would want to place your tattoo. May it be on your hands, spine, back, or anywhere else. The design is the one that’s important is it’s going to be yours for a lifetime.

From cross designs, flowers, anchor, rosary, birds, boat, or eagle tattoos, the sky is the limit when it comes to RIP tattoo designs. You can also have it customized to be more personal and unique.

But these tattoo ideas, aren’t only for people who have perished. We also have collected designs for those who have lost their pets, especially the dogs. Our pets are like a family that we also feel emptiness when they’re separated from us forever. If you have a dog or any other pets that have gone the way of all flesh, this list will be for you as well.

Tips, guides, and meanings

But we are not just providing you the designs that you need for your next tattoo to keep your loved ones’ memories alive. We will also provide you some tips and guides about tattoos to have a healthy journey in life as soon as your tattoos are done.

Getting a tattoo isn’t a temporary commitment. It’s going to be a lifetime commitment that you may need not to take for granted. There have been some instances of a tattoo rash or infection because of not properly taking care of their new inks. This is why it’s important that you know the dos and don’ts of having a tattoo just to be safe.

Tattoo allergies can be life-threatening, which is why you shouldn’t just take it for granted after getting a tattoo. Medical assistance is definitely needed for severe cases, but things should be fine if you follow your tattoo artist’s advice.

However, for your guidance and to help you out, we will be giving you some pointers of what are the things that you need to know about tattoos. We will also provide some meanings and symbols of these RIP tattoos.

Check out these amazing and personal RIP tattoo designs that we have gathered for you.

RIP cross tattoo for grandmom

Grandmoms are always the spoilers. That’s why it’s difficult to go on with our lives without their presence. This cross design would be a perfect idea for your tattoo to honor your grandma.

RIP roses with initials

For your departed loved one, roses can be your ultimate design with his or her initials and the year of death.

Red rose with name, birth date, and year of death

Here’s another great design for your loved one who has departed. It’s colorful, which is awesome to celebrate her life on Earth.

RIP pet dog

If you had a pet dog who also passed away, you can have a photo of it and ask your tattoo artist to customize it for you with its name on it.

Angel wings

Angels definitely go to heaven. So does your grandma. This is one of the coolest full-back RIP tattoos for men and women who want to keep their grandmoms’ memories alive.

Yellow rose

A yellow rose symbolizes warm and loving feelings for the loved ones. This is another unique tattoo design for your loved ones who have gone to a better place.

Heart with wings

Your gram’s date of birth and year of death can go well together with these lovely wings with a heart and a halo in the middle.

Cross with barbed wite

A black, gray, and white cross wrapped with barbed wire is unique for a tattoo with the deceased person’s name, date of birth, and year of death.

The U.S. Army necklace with the American flag

For the veteran and fallen soldiers, who fought for the country and the world, honor them with their names, birthday, and year of birth. You can either get the American flag design or the necklace itself or both. It’s one great way to let them know in heaven that they are loved and never forgotten.

Angel wings with a halo

Instead of the angel itself, you can just have its wings with your departed loved one’s initial and a glowing halo above it.

Heart with thorns

It’s difficult not seeing one of your family members or friends for the rest of your life. So, keep them with you, try this elegant and unique design with the person’s name on it. The tattoo artist did great with syndicating the heart with thorns and a cross on top.

Mom and Dad

It’s hard to lose both of your parents. But that’s something you can’t control. However, you can keep them both close to you – both on your forearms with a heart and flowers design and the words “mom” and “dad.”

In loving memory

Your dad who loves tools and gears would be happy to see this design that you will get for your next tattoo.

Black flower with a knife

A knife on a black flower is one of the most unique RIP tattoos on the forearm to honor and celebrate the life of your father.

Flower with dot work

The dot work on this outlined flower tattoo is excellent with the dad word on it. This is awesome to honor your father.

Colorful heart with wings and leaves

In memory of your loved one, you can have this colorful design. The leaves are so pretty with the outlined hard and patterned wings.

Forever in my heart tattoo

This is a simple yet sweet and personal RIP tattoo on the chest that you can have if you’re looking for minimal designs for your next tattoo.

Always on my mind shoulder RIP tattoo

It’s a pretty big design, but your loved one is worth the pain. Syndicating the water, birds, flowers, and cross with wings is plain beautiful and amazing.

You’ll never walk away

An outlined footprint of a departed loved one, especially the little ones is a sweet RIP tattoo for parents out there.

Couple’s tattoo

Most couples who have lost a baby or a little one makes a footprint tattoo design with the baby’s name on it. It can be hard to lose a baby, but to keep things alive, this would be a perfect RIP tattoo for the couples out there.

Gravestone

You can also have this design with the departed loved one’s name on it.

Gravestone with birds, moon, stars, and a dead tree

If you want a darker design, this one is magnificent to have. The black and white inks make this idea more elegant and meaningful.

Why petroleum jelly doesn’t have to be included in your tattoo aftercare

It’s always exciting to get a new tattoo, especially when it’s for a loved one who had gone to one’s reward. But you need to remember that getting a tattoo is like wounding yourself – an open wound. Thus, it needs your utmost care and attention for fast healing. Otherwise, it’s going to be a lot harder for you.

If you don’t take the proper care, there is a huge chance that your tattoo gets infected and worse, it will get deformed. Of course, you don’t want that to happen. We all don’t want it to happen, especially when we want it big time. There have been instances of irritated or infected tattoos causing the design to deform or fade quickly.

Some old belief suggests that petroleum jelly or Vaseline can help your tattoo during its aftercare. However, it is not true as it can even do more harm to your new tattoo. Something that we are all trying to avoid.

Petroleum jellies are great at trapping moisture into the skin, which is good for those who have extremely dry skin or during the dry season. However, since Vaseline or any other petroleum jelly brands have moisture-trapping effects on your skin, this can’t help in the healing process.

For instance, if you get any of these RIP tattoos and you use Vaseline to moisturize that tattooed area, you’ll get a chance to trap the moisture into the tattoo. This causes your tattoo not to be able to breathe. Giving your tattoo time to breathe after the process will help heal with ease.

Avoid it

Using petroleum jelly may actually get you more prone to irritation or infection, especially when it’s used on a new tattoo. There are tattoo rashes that have also occurred in some cases and some of them are even severe, which requires immediate medical assistance.

Infected tattoos will show redness, severe itching, swelling, bumps, burning sensation, and more. Although there are ways to help alleviate the symptoms like taking an antihistamine, it is still way better to be safe.

Avoid using Vaseline or any petroleum jelly, especially on a fresh tattoo to make it heal faster and safer. You can use it once your tattoo is completely healed, but it should only be applied around the tattooed area.

For more RIP tattoo ideas, check these inspirations below.

Flower and heart for mom tattoos on the hand and chest

Mothers know best and so, they deserve flowers. Get a design like this tattooed on your hand with the word “mom” or “mother” to honor her.

Flowers and birds tattoo for Papa

Flowers symbolize a lot of great qualities and attributions of a person, while birds are usually used as a sign of freedom. For your Papa, give honor to him through this colorful and vibrant tattoo. 

Portrait tattoo

A portrait of your father would be extra sweet for a tattoo design that you can put anywhere on your body.

Praying hand sign with rosary

This is one of the most popular RIP tattoos for men and women. It’s simple but very meaningful.

Dot work, outlines, and shading

A house on the street and a windmill would be a unique tattoo idea to commemorate the life of your loved one who had passed away. The dot work is amazing on this one with the outlines and shading that got better with the black ink used.

Blue anchor

You can have an anchor colored with anything you like with a twist adding a pink or red ribbon with heart in the middle.

Outlined heart with dates

It’s a simple design made elegant with its unique outline with red ink at the center and the year of birth of your loved one and the year of death.

Roman Numerals

Instead of putting a birthday using Roman Numerals, you can out the year of death instead.

Red parrot

An adage says that humans become parrots when we are dead. This is a perfect connotation of the RIP tattoo that you may want to get.

Different kinds of flowers and a bird

Birds use flowers to suck nectar. That’s how death signifies that the soul becomes free afterlife.

Colorful crow

A crow is often referred to as a bad omen and death. Although it doesn’t have to mean that way all the time, this would be a great tattoo idea for a loved who had perished.

Dagger with name

For a departed loved one who liked daggers, you can have this elegant black and white design with his or her name on it.

Rosary with name

A rosary is a type of devotion in the Roman Catholic Church. This would be a perfect design for a close friend or a family member that passed away who loved or prayed the rosary.

Anchor with cross

The cross and anchor together is one strong idea for a tattoo design with the words “the anchor of my soul” included on it.

Glowing cross with initials

The cross has many different meanings and symbolisms including death and life. A glowing one is going to be a meaningful RIP tattoo design for anyone who wants to honor their late loved ones.

Too beautiful for Earth RIP tattoo

People say that heaven probably needs a beautiful angel and it needs to have someone from Earth. This is a very personal and cute tattoo design for those who want to keep their loved ones’ memories alive.

Two wings on the arm

Here is one of the best unisex RIP tattoos that you can have with your perished loves one’s initials.

Cancer symbol with glowing wings

If you are one of those people who lost their dad to cancer, get this unique design with the cancer symbol on the glowing wings.

Blue Wings with initials

To make it more colorful, you can have colored wings with your loved one’s initials written on it.

Your Wings Were Ready But My Heart Was Not

It’s always hard to lose someone close to you, especially when it’s sudden. But to keep that person’s memories close to you, you can have this design with birds flying and two big outlined feathers. The addition of the phrase makes this RIP tattoo design an amazing idea.

RIP tattoo for dad

A big feather with four small birds taking flight would be a sweet tattoo idea for your late dad. You can also add a message like this one.

Anchor with rope

To add more meaning to the anchor design, add a rope around it with colorful flowers and your loved one’s initials.

RIP tattoo for mom

The praying hand sign with a rosary is a perfect tattoo design for your late mom with her birthday and year of death.

Free indeed

They say that death is freedom. So, if you want to honor a friend or a family member who has departed, this circular leaves design with the words “free indeed” as a symbol of freedom.

Cross with praying hands

A cross with praying hands and rosary would be a gorgeous tattoo design to honor a family member or a close friend of yours.

Cowboy tattoo

Sombrero, boots, and a whip are among the gorgeous and most unique RIP tattoos for men and women. You can also add the words “in love memory” with the person’s full name, birthday, and year of death. It’s very detailed and sweet.

More vibrant and meaningful RIP tattoos for men and women

We have a few more tattoo ideas below for your inspiration. These are painstakingly gathered to ensure your satisfaction when it comes to getting RIP tattoos to honor your loved ones.

Are you thinking about getting any of these meaningful RIP tattoos to honor your loved ones who have crossed the afterlife? What design would it be? Tell us about it in the comments below!