Created by the Japanese company Sanrio in the 1970s, Hello Kitty has become an enormous brand that branched into innumerable amounts of merchandise, franchises, and television. She is an icon of Japanese pop culture that has transferred over to the Western world. The face of Hello Kitty is recognizable as an adorable children’s character, representing charm, kindness and softheartedness. The world of Hello Kitty is simplistic and jovial, and ideal of happiness that is easy to capture in childhood. Not long after Hello Kitty was created in 1974, the coin purse for Hello Kitty was brought to market in 1975 by Sanrio. In 1976, the United States was introduced to Hello Kitty. Hello Kitty was made to be British by Sanrio because many countries were trendy in Japan and Britain was probably the top country in terms of what was “cool.” In addition, Sanrio already had a number of Hello Kitty characters as American so she wanted to change it up. The name Kitty came from a scene from Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. Alice plays with a cat in the book and she named it Kitty. Sanrio had a motto that was essentially to communicate socially so instead of just using Kitty, they tried out “Hi Kitty” first but then ended up settling on “Hello” to be a greeting.

Hello Kitty Tattoo Meaning

Hello Kitty designs are generally simple, rendering the cartoon with the few lines and colors of the original image. Her blank white face holds three whiskers on either side of the face, a yellow oval nose and simple black eyes. She wears a bow over the left ear which is red. The twin sister of Hello Kitty, Mimi, appears exactly the same except the color and location of the bow changes to yellow on the opposite ear. The body of Hello Kitty is just slightly bigger than her head and she is most often depicted with a t-shirt underneath a pair of blue overalls. One hand is usually raised in the air, signifying a greeting. Small details like hearts, stars, and diamonds are added to create a fuller image. Hello Kitty is a nostalgic icon of childhood and adolescence that many people chose to capture. She can be designed in countless outfits and styles ranging from simple clothing or uniforms to traditional Japanese female dress or Samurai armor. In addition to everything stated above, the Hello Kitty tattoo meaning is symbolic of friendship and love. The fact that Hello Kitty has no mouth is representative of speaking from the heart which is a universal language so those that have this tattoo might be conjuring their inner peace and unity. This is the beautiful thing about the Hello Kitty tattoo. For those that are fans of the look or the “cute” culture, Hello Kitty can fill that space in a tattoo. However, the meaning can be much deeper for those that are trying to spread a message about love.

Hello Kitty Tattoo Variations