77 Beautiful Butterfly Tattoos - Plus Their Meaning & Photos (2024)

Butterfly tattoo designs are one of the most popular choices of tattoo for women. Butterfly tattoos not only encapsulate beauty and grace, but they also have symbolic meanings.

The meaning behind a butterfly tattoo can be different for different people. However, the metamorphosis of the butterfly, or moth, from crawling insect to an amazing flying creature of grace and beauty, can be incredibly inspirational. That is why many women choose a butterfly to represent their metamorphosis from girl to woman.

Likewise, many people think of the butterfly as representative of the human soul or spirit. They seek to free their spirit in a similar way to the butterfly achieving freedom when it emerges from its cocoon. The ritual of receiving a butterfly image indelibly inked onto their body is simply a step on the way to achieving this spiritual freedom.

From an artistic viewpoint, Butterflies are symmetrical and can be highly colorful, which allows a talented tattoo artist to show his skill when creating a beautiful design.

The design of Butterfly tattoos can also be any size making them ideal for any part of the body. Butterfly tattoos can be combined with many other styles. It is not uncommon to see Butterfly tattoos with flower designs, and Tribal Butterfly tattoo designs are very trendy.

Types of Butterfly Tattoo Designs

Monarch Butterfly Tattoo designs

The Monarch Butterfly is both colorful and famous due to its migratory habits. Monarch butterflies migrate from Canada to Mexico – a journey that takes three or four generations of butterfly. Their colorfulness and wandering nature have made them a popular choice for a tattoo design.

Tiger Butterfly Tattoo

The Tiger Butterfly closely resembles the monarch butterflies but has slightly more striking coloring, which has made them a popular choice.

Butterfly and Flower Tattoo Designs

It is common to see a butterfly included as part of a larger design involving flowers. A talented artist can show off his skill by using colors on the flowers to contrast the butterfly.

Butterfly Fairy Tattoos

If you are looking to combine something real with something mythical, a Butterfly fairy tattoo can be a great way to do this.

Star and Butterfly Tattoos

Like flowers, stars can be great ‘space fillers’ as part of a larger design, including a butterfly.

Butterfly Tattoo Designs for Girls

Butterfly tattoos are one of the most popular choices of tattoo for women.

Tribal Butterfly Tattoo Designs

You can either opt for a butterfly in the black tribal style – which looks excellent against paler skin. You could also use a plain black tribal design to frame a colorful butterfly tattoo and set it off!

The History of Butterfly Tattoos

To learn more about the history of butterfly tattoos, perhaps it is best to learn more about the butterfly. The life cycle of the butterfly consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Butterfly eggs have a hard shell that protects them and usually attached to plants. The worm, or caterpillar, which emerge from the egg spend most of their time eating.

Once the caterpillar is fully grown, it will search for a suitable pupation site. It is somewhere safe where it will become a pupa or chrysalis. This final stage – from cocoon to adult – has fascinated so many people through the years. The plain caterpillar will have transformed into a butterfly with often highly colorful wings, which can be the inspiration for a vibrant tattoo design or tattoo idea.

The Symbolism of Butterflies

The Meaning of Butterfly Tattoosaround the world has a very “spiritual” theme. Butterflies have had a profound effect on many mythologies around the globe. The ancient Greeks believed that a new human soul was born every time a butterfly emerged from its cocoon. The old Greek word for butterfly was ‘psyche,’ which means ‘soul’ or ‘mind.’ In Ireland, people believed that butterflies were the souls of the dead waiting to pass through purgatory. The Germans had a similar belief and thought that the dead were reborn as butterflies to flutter around, bringing childbirth to childless couples.

Many in Asia saw butterflies as bringers of joy and happiness. The Japanese also saw butterflies as the personification of a person’s soul – both living or dead. They believed that if a single butterfly entered your guestroom, your loved one would visit you. However, a lot of butterflies could be a bad omen, warning of disaster. The Chinese viewed two butterflies as symbolic of love. Some people in India believed that when you die, the spirit goes through a series of transformations and ends up as a butterfly. When the butterfly finally dies, so does the spirit. These different beliefs make butterflies an excellent choice for a tattoo design.

Designs

Since butterflies are naturally colorful, no matter what designs and ink colors you choose, it will look natural and gorgeous. You can go with several colors or black and white if you prefer simplicity. You can choose traditional designs that look like real butterflies or go with a tribal design. Also, you do not have to stop at just a butterfly tattoo. Add a small flower or a few stars for extra added effect.

Make the design, color, and motif fit your personality as it will be part of you forever. There are thousands of choices to make when it comes to butterfly tattoos, so take your time and do some browsing until you find the one that fits you, and then you can customize it with your elements.

Placements

Because it is possible to draw a butterfly of any size, a talented tattoo artist could fit a butterfly design anywhere on the body. Many people believe that the seven Chakra points are good places for tattoos, which have spiritual meanings. The seven points are the top of the head, the forehead, throat, heart, solar plexus, lower belly or back, and groin.

Other great places to wear a Butterfly tattoo would be:

Butterfly tattoo on hand

On your hand, you can have a couple of small butterflies or one big one. You can use lots of different colors or go black and white. The ink choice will depend on the theme of your design.

Butterfly tattoos on the back

Butterfly tattoos on shoulder

The shoulder is a great place to get a butterfly tattoo. Back of your shoulder provides a larger canvas than the front of your shoulder. They are easily visible in tank tops or beachwear.

Butterfly tattoos behind the ear

Tattoos behind the ear are trendy among both men and women. Especially a couple of small butterflies flying up from the neck up to the ear looks fantastic from the side.

Butterfly tattoos on foot

The feet are an alluring part of the human body, and for this reason, many women are opting for putting butterfly tattoos on foot areas.

Celebrities with Butterfly tattoos

Actress Drew Barrymore has a Butterfly tattoo design under her belly button.

Singer Dolly Parton has a butterfly tattoo on one of her breasts.

Actress Julia Roberts has a butterfly tattoo on her lower back.

Singer Britney Spears has a butterfly tattoo on her left foot.

More Butterfly Tattoos

If you are thinking about getting a butterfly tattoo to commemorate a change in your life or hoping to find yourself in a new situation soon, check out thesebutterfly tattoosfor inspiration.

Realistic Butterfly Tattoos

Blackwork

Blue Butterflies

Purple Butterflies

Small Butterfly Tattoos

Butterfly Tattoos for Men

Cute Butterfly Tattoos

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