The Nautical Star Tattoo – Designs & Meaning

The meaning of nautical star tattoos has been the subject of many debates since different groups have taken this old symbol as an icon of their movement. This actually caused different way of interpretation according to the user and taking context into account as well.

Sailors were the ones to set the tradition of nautical star tattoos as they had their superstitions and fears getting lost at sea or never seeing land again. Thus the north star became the home symbol and the silent promise that the person will stay on the right path in life. Such nautical star tattoos clearly stand for good luck and return home in perfect conditions.

Punk rockers, military groups, gays and lesbians are the ones to use the nautical star tattoos as symbols or logos, but taken separately they all consider distinct significance to the symbol. For the military, the connection is pretty similar to the symbolism given by sailors; the military are also looking or waiting for their return home.

Freedom to choose, this is the message given by lesbians to the nautical star tattoos. Back in the 1940s and 1950s, non-heterosexual orientations were not regarded as freely as they are today and, lesbians would tattoo the nautical star on the inside part of the wrist where a watch could camouflage it very well, but in the evening when they went out, the tattoo could be seen and recognized by others just like them.

Punk groups express their standing apart from the group by using the nautical star tattoos. With the same hints to the North star, these tattoos point to personal efforts to find one’s path in life even if that means being different. With punk groups nautical star tattoos are often identified in the hand sleeve area or in combination with other designs.

Besides these categories of people who wear nautical star tattoos for a purpose, there are many others who simply take a liking in the pattern. The preference for one tattoo or another is definitely subjective and it should remain that way.

Rejections of possible interpretations for the meaning of nautical star tattoos are also very common; thus, the military often debunk and deny all the potential hints to a different sexual orientation. Yet, other people wear such tattoos in total ignorance of the symbolic charge. The thing that stays valid is the presence of nautical star tattoos in different moments in the history of mankind, which no one can deny.