Which tattoo design should you choose for you next or new tattoo? There are so many different ones out there how are you possibly meant to narrow them down and find something your like?

Well one of the important things to consider when choosing your new tattoo is the meanings behind the tattoo, both the popular well known ones and the strange and obscure ones. After all you need to know what you are getting yourself into and what different people are going to think about you and your new tattoo once you get it done.

Although if you are getting your new tattoo as a form of rebellion who cares what other people think of your new tattoo or for that matter anything your do. But seriously most of us have some interest in what this new image we are going to get indelible inked onto our skin means.

In order to help you make an informed decision when it comes to your new tattoo we are going to explore the various design elements and meanings of a few tattoo designs that will hopefully be of interest to you:

1. Christian Cross Tattoos

2. Japanese Water Tattoos

3. Celtic Design Tattoos

The Holiness of Christian Cross Tattoos

Let's start with number one, Christian Cross Tattoos, Christian crosses cover all manner of tasteful and thoughtful tattoo designs all dealing with crosses and how they impact on and are an integral part of Christian belief.

Quite often you will see crosses joined or mixed with rosary beads, as the famous or infamous, depending on your point of view, Nicole Ritchie has recently had done on her ankle. Another popular duo is the cross and a rose or number of roses, again joining two powerful symbols of the Christian faith into the one Christian cross tattoo.

Koi Fish and Spectacular Wave Japanese Water Tattoos

Moving onto number two we have Japanese water tattoos, there are any number of varied, weird and wonderful tattoo designs in this genera ranging from spectacular wave formations to all manner of swimming Koi and varying amounts of water.

The Koi is a fish that originated in China but the Japanese have adopted the fish with lots of meanings. In Japan they are said to be particularly prized for their manly abilities, to the Japanese this fish emulates the warrior, their Samurai, in that when the fish is on the chopping board it maintains its honor by laying perfectly still even though it 'knows' it is about to die.

The Japanese were so taken with the Koi fish and all the manly attributes it is said to display that they felt it was the appropriate symbol for the annual Boys' Day Festival. It is meant to display and represent all the qualities boy are hoped to aspire to such as overcoming life's difficulties, courage and having the ability and staying power to achieve lofty goals. During their annual Boys' Day Festival each family flies a Koi flag for each boy in the family.

Intricate Celtic Design Tattoos

Lastly let us go over the intricate and wholly nature of Celtic design tattoos. The great thing about Celtic design tattoos is that there is such a range, you might be going for an intricate interwoven circular design in black and white with gray shading or for a mythical creature motif.

Then there are stunning interwoven armband designs and how can we forget the ever popular Celtic cross tattoo designs. Either way there is a huge amount of choice available for you within the Celtic design tattoo genera.

So there you have it an exploration of three exciting tattoo designs and what they are all about and what they mean, hopefully you have gotten something out of this little article. No doubt you want to see what all this looks like when an artist puts pen to paper and creates a tattoo design. We have recently put together tattoo galleries for all three of these tattoo design, just click on one of the links below to check them out: