Chrissy Teigen’s tattoos are small and personal, so they can be easy to miss until you know where to look. She hasn’t treated ink as a collection of random decorations. Most of the designs we can see point back to her family, her life with John Legend or a moment she wanted to hold onto. That gives the collection a warm thread, even though the tattoos themselves look quite different.
Her best-known pieces include family names on her forearm, a tiny heart on her finger, a butterfly drawn by Luna, a blue elephant and the words Ooh Laa down her spine. She also has a wrist tattoo honoring her late son Jack. Some are so delicate they disappear in red-carpet photos; others show up clearly in close-ups shared by Teigen, her tattoo artist and entertainment outlets.
Here’s what’s known about the main designs, where they sit and why they matter.
The John, Luna and Miles tattoo keeps her family on her arm
One of Teigen’s most recognizable tattoos is the fine script on her forearm: John, Luna and Miles. The names honor her husband and two of their children. Los Angeles tattoo artist Daniel Winter, known as Winter Stone, did the lettering. John Legend got a matching piece with Teigen’s name in place of his own, making the appointment a shared family marker.
The design is deliberately simple, with no heavy shading or frame around the words. It looks almost like a handwritten note, which suits Teigen’s preference for ink that feels intimate before it feels showy. The inner forearm is also easy to cover for work and easy to reveal by rolling up a sleeve.
Photos from the appointment show the clean, single-needle lines. Each letter has room to breathe, and the names sit in a neat row instead of crowding one another. It’s a good reminder that a small tattoo can carry a lot of emotional weight. The design is quiet, but its message is clear: the people closest to her stay with her.
Teigen later added more family-related ink nearby, turning the forearm into an ongoing record rather than one finished statement. The tattoos have grown along with her family, and that timeline is part of their appeal.
Her Jack wrist tattoo is a private tribute made visible
After the loss of their son Jack in 2020, Teigen chose a small script tattoo on her wrist as a memorial. His name sits near the existing family lettering, alongside John, Luna and Miles. It’s a tender choice, and the placement makes the connection easy to see.
The design doesn’t dominate her arm. Its fine lettering looks more like a signature than a bold memorial plaque. That restraint matters: Teigen has spoken publicly about grief, but the tattoo doesn’t turn it into a spectacle. It gives Jack’s name a lasting place while keeping the design close to her body.
Close-up photos show how the new script sits with the older tattoos. The lines are delicate, and the words fit naturally into the forearm collection. It’s also a reminder that the meaning of tattoos can grow as life changes. What began as family names has become a fuller record of the people Teigen carries with her.
A wrist is a fitting place for this kind of tribute: she can see it throughout the day, but it’s easy to cover when she wants. That balance appears often in Teigen’s choices. She picks placements that feel personal first and lets the camera catch them when she chooses.
Luna’s butterfly drawing became a real tattoo
The butterfly is one of the sweetest tattoos in Teigen’s collection because it began as a drawing by her daughter Luna. The shape is intentionally childlike, with uneven wings and tiny antennae instead of polished realism. After Luna’s preschool graduation, Teigen had Winter Stone ink the drawing on her inner forearm.
The finished tattoo keeps the charm of the original sketch. It doesn’t correct the proportions or turn the butterfly into a standard flash design. The imperfect lines are the point: the tattoo preserves Luna’s drawing and gives the little insect more personality than a conventional butterfly might have.
Teigen has called the image close to her heart, and its placement fits. The inner forearm already holds family tattoos, so the butterfly joins the same story. In close-up, you can make out the rounded wings, simple body and dots that make it feel lifted from a child’s notebook.
The design also shows why Teigen’s collection doesn’t need to be large to be memorable. It isn’t technically complicated; its value comes from who drew it and what the moment meant. For anyone thinking about family tattoos, a personal sketch can be more powerful than a perfect symbol when the story behind it is real.
The blue elephant adds a brighter note to her tattoo collection
In 2022, Teigen showed a new blue elephant tattoo by Winter Stone. It stands apart from her other well-known pieces, which tend to use black or gray fine-line work. The blue gives the elephant a softer, playful feel, and the drawing is loose rather than realistic.
It sits around her wrist and lower forearm, close to the other family designs. In the photo, the blue ink is vivid against her skin and gives the elephant its own character. It feels less like another line of text and more like a small figure joining the collection.
Teigen joked with the artist about the elephant’s details during the session, which matches the relaxed spirit of the tattoo. It feels meaningful without looking solemn. The design also suits the wrist: it can peek out from under a sleeve without taking over her arm.
The elephant makes a nice counterpoint to the butterfly. Both are personal, simple drawings, but they have different moods. Luna’s artwork inspired the butterfly, while the elephant is a colorful standalone image. Together, they show Teigen moving between sentimental family pieces and tattoos that simply make her smile.
Ooh Laa runs down her spine as a John Legend tribute
Teigen’s spine tattoo has a more romantic feel. Ooh Laa runs down her back in delicate script, referencing a John Legend song from his album Bigger Love. Winter Stone shared the finished design, and Teigen posted parts of the appointment while Legend stayed close beside her.
The vertical placement makes it different from the family names on her forearm. Instead of reading across her skin like a label, the phrase follows her spine. It can stay hidden under everyday clothes, which makes it feel like a special reveal when she wears an open-back look or shares a photo from behind.
The piece also shows how Teigen and Legend’s tattoos play off their relationship. Their matching family names are direct and practical; the spine design is more private and flirtatious, built around a song with a personal connection to their marriage. It’s like wearing a lyric as a small piece of jewelry on her back.
Clear lighting helps with a fine script tattoo like this. The letters are narrow and light, so they can disappear in a distant red-carpet shot. In close-up, the spacing and placement are easy to see, and the work looks clean without being overdone.
Look across the collection and a pattern emerges: most of Teigen’s tattoos are about people, memories and small expressions of affection. Even the nonverbal designs have personal origins. Luna drew the butterfly; the blue elephant brings color and humor; the spine tattoo points back to Legend’s music. The names and Jack tribute make the family story even more direct.
She also tends to favor fine lines and placements she can show or cover. That makes the tattoos easy to live with and lets each new piece find its place. None looks like it was added just to fill space. The strongest examples are tattoos that would still matter even if nobody else saw them.
For readers looking for celebrity tattoo ideas, Teigen’s collection offers approachable examples. You don’t need a full sleeve to build a meaningful group of tattoos. A handwritten name, a child’s drawing or a lyric can be enough. The key is choosing something that still feels true after its trend has passed.
That family-first approach is why the collection keeps evolving. New ink doesn’t erase what came before; it adds another chapter. If you like tattoo stories rooted in personal history, read our feature on Marlon Vera’s meaningful tattoos for a very different kind of story told through ink.
In short, Teigen’s tattoos combine fine script, small illustrations and tributes to her relationships. The designs are delicate, but the stories behind them aren’t. Each piece has a reason to be there.
Watch the video below for more about Teigen’s butterfly tattoo and the family story behind it.