Pigeon is known as one of the most popular animals. When it comes to tattoos, dove tattoo is a very popular tattoo idea, not as popular as rose tattoos, but I would say almost as popular as butterfly tattoos. In this blog post, I am going to cover the importance of pigeon tattoos and introduce you to some of the best pigeon tattoo designs and ideas that you will not want to miss.
Meaning of pigeon tattoos
peace
The dove has the symbolic meaning of peace. This is probably the most famous meaning for the pigeon.
Faithful love
Dove represents true love. Do you know that pigeons are like a loyal spouse? They only have one partner for their whole life.
Take care of the family
Not only the pigeons are loyal to their other half. The female and male pigeons look after their children together. That is why many tattoo lovers use a dove tattoo to represent their loyal love and attachment to their children or parents.
Love for jesus
Because doves have appeared several times in the Holy Bible, some Christians associate doves with the Bible and Jesus Christ.
Long lasting and loyal love for your other half, love for your family, love for Jesus and peace are the deep, powerful symbolic meanings of dove tattoos. Now, let’s take a look at some gorgeous pigeon tattoo designs and see if the ideas below suit you.
Doves tattoo with heart on / near armpit
I usually don’t talk about tattoo ideas with armpit tattoos as these just aren’t that common. But this little dove tattoo with a heart near the armpit area is so beautiful and cute. This is a good idea if you are looking for a subtle idea that depicts love and peace.
Flying dove tattoo on upper back
Flying pigeon tattoos look stunning on the upper back, whether you like a little pigeon, a row of little pigeons, or a couple of bigger pigeons flying together. There are some tattoo lovers out there who want to use dove tattoos to express their love and they don’t want to show their tattoos to others in their workplace. The upper back is a perfect placement in this case as you can cover the tattoos with normal clothing while also leaving a large area for creatively designed flying pigeon tattoos.
Pigeon tattoo with name (memorial to the loss of a family member)
Some people use a tattoo to express their eternal love for the loss of a family member. A dove tattoo with a name or initials is a very suitable way to express the deep and long lasting love and wish the family member to rest in peach and live happily ever after in heaven.
Dove with quote tattoo design
Dove and quote very often go together in a tattoo. I think that’s partly because the dove has such a deep meaning for love and peace and also the shape of the dove with handwriting looks kind of very nice too. It is a wonderful idea to express a belief or message with your favorite meaningful quote and make it look beautiful by combining it with some flying doves in a beautiful tattoo.
Dove with key tattoo
Doves with tattoo keys are sometimes made in memory of someone. The keys have the meaning of locking and unlocking. In this case, it means locking a good and important memory in a certain place in your heart. And with the keys you can unlock this part of your heart and pick up this special part of the memory in your head at any time. If doves holding keys are not tattooed for commemorative purposes, it also has a symbolic meaning for unlocking your hidden power of love and family.
Pigeon tattoo on wrist
Since pigeon tattoos usually look good like small tattoos, they look really good on the wrist. If you are interested in having a small tattoo on your wrist that has deep meanings, a small dove tattoo could be one of your best choices.
Dove with rose tattoo designs
The rose tattoo is definitely one of the most popular tattoo ideas, if not the most popular. It makes sense to combine rose, which represents love and beauty, with dove, which also represents love. You can see from the pictures above that they can look amazing on your arm, on your back, or on your shoulder.
Dove with Lily Tattoo Designs
If you don’t want to go too mainstream by pairing a dove with a rose, you can pair a dove with a lily flower, a beautiful flower that has the symbolic meaning of elegance, innocence and purity.
Dove with a word tattoo
Because the dove is associated with many deep, powerful one-word meanings such as love, faith and peace, it is very popular for words like “love” and “faith” to appear in a dove tattoo.
Dove with bible verse tattoo
As mentioned at the beginning, the dove is often associated with the holy Bible and Jesus. It is for this reason that some tattoo lovers like to use doves with Bible verse tattoos to express their faith.
Dove with olive branch tattoo
The olive branch also has a symbolic meaning of peace, so it makes sense to put a dove and an olive branch together into a tattoo. As you can see in the pictures above, they actually look pretty cute and beautiful.
Dove and grapevine tattoo
As a slight variation of the pigeon with olive branch tattoo, the pigeon and grapevine tattoo also looks nice but has a different meaning. Vine has the symbolic meaning of being able to survive and grow in a difficult situation. The joining of the dove and the vine means surviving and improving, regardless of the challenges, with the support and love of your family.
I just shared some of the most beautiful pigeon tattoo designs. Hope you find this blog post helpful and even better when you have a good tattoo idea inspired by this article. For more tattoo ideas, piercing ideas, and beauty tips, see our other articles.