It may be generally thought that tattoos on females are a recent phenomenon, and in a sense, they are. Seeing a female tattoo in public has been a rather rare occurrence over the past few hundred years, at least in western culture. Yet the practice of applying a female tattoo is not as uncommon as many people think.

Tribal cultures throughout the world have decorated the body of females in many ways for thousands of years. Totemic representations of tribe family icons to designate tribal loyalty, marriage, and rank in the matriarchy have been used consistently in cultures found in Asia, Africa, and the island peoples of the Pacific Ocean and Antarctic regions.

Even in western cultures of the 18th and 19th centuries, a female tattoo could be found here and there, although usually on women who frequented areas of a city that catered to nightlife and more pedestrian forms of entertainment. Traveling circuses and carnivals often employed women who had more than one female tattoo, to say the least. These “illustrated” women were a very popular attraction and enjoyed widespread notoriety.

Today, the female tattoo is much more commonly seen. The popularity of the butterfly or flower, located on the lower back or the ankle, was a recognized part of the youth culture of the 1960s and 1970s. The practice has grown ever since. Modern women are getting a female tattoo on many other parts of their body, and the pictography they choose is more varied than ever.

The female tattoo of today is often motivated by relationships, such as with a partner or with a child. Names and visual reproductions of loved ones can be found on thighs, calves, shoulders, and breasts as well as on forearms and feet.

Here are some tattoo designs for girls.