How many characters fit in an engraving?

Only the engraver can tell you the limit for a particular piece and font — it varies with the surface area and the depth of the engraving. Remember that spaces, full stops and separators count too: "5 March 2026" is longer than "5March2026". Write the wording exactly as it should be engraved and have it confirmed before you order.

The name, if it fits. Initials make sense on jewellery for an adult who knows whose they are; on a child's keepsake, someone has to be able to read them in twenty years. If space is short, drop the surname rather than the first name.

From what age can a child wear a name necklace?

For children under three, avoid chains altogether — the risk of strangulation and of inhaling a small part is documented by reported cases. A bracelet or pendant makes sense only for a child who can look after the piece and doesn't put things in their mouth, which in practice means school age.

Can an engraving be changed later?

Removing it means polishing the metal down, which takes material away — possible on a thicker pendant, but a thin tag may bend and a gold-plated piece will lose its plating. Adding another line is usually easier than fixing an existing one. So it's better to leave space blank than fill it with wording you might later want gone.

Does it matter if the jewellery has no hallmark?

A missing mark on a tiny pendant doesn't tell you much on its own. What matters more is a receipt from the seller stating the type of metal, the price, the weight and the fineness — keep it with the jewellery.

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Name and date jewellery: what to engrave and when

1/09/2026

What to engrave on name and date jewellery so it still makes sense in twenty years, which metal lasts — and why a one-year-old shouldn't wear it.

Name and date jewellery: what to engrave and when

Quick answer

Have the first name in full engraved (not a nickname or a shortened form) and the date with the full year, written so that the day and month can't be mixed up. Everything else — a message, a title, the giver's name — belongs on the back, or nowhere at all: "our little princess" will date far sooner than the silver it's engraved in.

But baby jewellery is a keepsake for the box, not for the neck. A chain on a small child can catch on the cot, and broken jewellery means a small part in the airway; both are documented cases, not a theoretical risk.

What to engrave: the name, the date and nothing more

The engraving area is small, and every character you add shrinks all the others. So it pays to decide up front what has to last twenty years and what's just today's mood.

What stands the test of time: the first name in full and the date. "Tessie" is the name you use now — "Tessa" is the name she'll have at eighteen on her degree and her employment contract. A nickname on jewellery isn't a mistake; just bear in mind it becomes a memory of the parents rather than a mark of the owner.

What not to put on the front: the surname. A first name stays with a person, but a surname can change through marriage or the child's own decision, and a re-engraved surname shows on the piece forever. Likewise, leave out family labels ("from Nana") and any wording that describes the child as little — in twenty years an adult will be wearing it.

Use the back for things that genuinely don't change: a second date (the day the baby came home), the parents' initials or a single short word. If you're not sure, leave the back blank. Engraving can be added later; it can't be removed without a trace.

A date format nobody will puzzle over in twenty years

The date is the one part of an engraving that can be written correctly and still be unclear. The difference between formats only shows when the piece is held by someone who wasn't there.

Format	How it reads	When to choose it
5 March 2026	day, month in words, year — the usual New Zealand style	The piece stays at home and there's enough room on the tag
2026-03-05	year, month, day (international order)	Can't be misread anywhere in the world; good for the back and for family records
5 MAR 2026	abbreviated month in letters	You want to rule out any mix-up but space is tight
3/5/2026	3 May in New Zealand and Europe, 5 March in the US	Never — one format, two different dates
5 March ’26	shortened year	Never — in a hundred years nobody will know which century

Engraving ideas to copy, by occasion

An engraver counts characters including spaces, full stops and separators — "5 March 2026" is two characters longer than "5March2026", and on a narrow pendant that matters. Before you order, write the wording on paper exactly as it should be engraved, spaces and all. You can copy the lines below and swap in the name and date.

Birth, front of a pendant

Tessa · 5 March 2026

Birth, when there's more room

Tessa Thompson 5 March 2026 · 3.48 kg · 50 cm

Bracelet for a first birthday

Tessa · 5 March 2026 · first year

Mum's jewellery with the children's names

Tessa 5 March 2024 · Leo 12 September 2026

The back, where only a few characters fit

Find your way home. M + T

Why a one-year-old shouldn't wear jewellery

In 2018 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a warning about jewellery put on young children and described two specific reported cases: a seven-month-old choked on a bead from a wooden bracelet, while being supervised by a parent, and was taken to hospital; an eighteen-month-old was strangled during sleep by an amber necklace. The warning was aimed at jewellery sold to ease teething pain, but the mechanism is exactly the same for a decorative name chain: strangulation when the cord tightens or catches on the cot bars, and inhalation when the piece breaks and a small part comes loose.

The same test applies as with toys — anything that fits in the mouth and can come apart is a hazard for children under three; how to run through it is covered in our article on gift safety for the littlest ones. Jewellery almost never passes that test: it has a clasp, it has a small pendant, and by its very nature it goes round the neck.

None of this means jewellery with a name and date is a bad gift. It means being clear about who it's given to: it's bought for the child, but for the first few years a parent looks after it. Saying that out loud when you hand it over spares the family any awkwardness — and probably saves the piece, too, because it ends up in a box instead of in the cot.

Materials that last twenty years against the skin

An engraving only lasts as long as the metal it's cut into. These are the properties that decide that — and what to check before you buy.

Nickel and allergies
The European Union's REACH rules (Annex XVII, entry 27) limit nickel release from jewellery: no more than 0.2 µg/cm² per week for parts inserted into pierced ears and 0.5 µg/cm² per week for items in prolonged contact with the skin. They don't bind New Zealand retailers, but the key line of that entry is telling: a plated finish only has to keep within the limit for at least two years of normal wear. Two years, not twenty — which is why gold-plated costume jewellery isn't suited to a lifelong keepsake.
Silver and its fineness
Silver comes in several standard finenesses; most common is 925 (sterling silver), with 835 and 800 below it. Silver tarnishes over time as it reacts with sulphur compounds in the air; for a piece kept in a box, that means an occasional polish, not damage.
Gold
For gold, 585 (14 carat) and 750 (18 carat) are common. A higher number means more gold and a softer metal: the engraving looks finer, but on a bracelet worn every day it wears smooth sooner. For a piece meant to be worn, 585 is usually more practical.
The receipt to ask for
Ask the seller for a receipt that states the type of metal, the price, the weight and the fineness. Keep that piece of paper with the jewellery — in twenty years, when someone asks what it's made of, it's the only proof.
Engraving depth
A shallow laser engraving gradually wears away on a bracelet worn every day; a deeper engraving lasts longer. Ask the engraver how deep they can go on that particular piece — on thin tags the depth is limited so the metal doesn't bend.

How to store it so it can still be found in twenty years

The most common fate of jewellery with a name and date isn't being lost but being forgotten: it sits in a drawer and nobody remembers who it was from or why.

1
Photograph it straight away
Ideally close up, so the engraving is legible. A photo keeps the wording even if the inscription wears smooth over time.
2
Add a note with the context
Who gave it, when and for what occasion. One handwritten sentence. You can't look this up anywhere else, and it's exactly what you'll tell the child when you hand it over.
3
Keep it out of the bathroom
Humidity and fumes from toiletries speed up silver tarnishing. A resealable pouch or a box with a seal works better than an open dish on a shelf.
4
Put it with the other keepsakes
One place for everything — the jewellery, the handprint, the hospital bracelet. Scattered keepsakes get lost one at a time, never all at once.
5
Tell someone else about it
Your partner, the other grandparents, the child themselves as soon as they understand. A keepsake only one person knows about stops existing along with that person's memory.

When to give it to the child, and what to write down until then

The right moment to hand it over isn't set by age but by whether the child can attach a story to the piece and hold on to it. That's usually school age for a bracelet or pendant, later for a chain — and as a coming-of-age gift, jewellery with a birth date works best of all, because that's when the date carries weight.

Until then, the name and date don't have to wait in a box. The classic place to write both down is a book dedication: it holds a whole sentence instead of two lines and can be read long before the child understands what silver is. Other keepsakes given around the first year play the same role — there's an overview in our article on first birthday gifts.

And if the name should be right inside the story, a personalised book does the job: the hero is created from a single uploaded photo, the dedication is set on the first page, the book has 12 illustrated spreads and is usually ready within 15 minutes. Unlike jewellery, the child can have it close straight away.

Sources

FDA: warning about jewellery worn by young children (2018) — Reported deaths and injuries — strangulation by a necklace during sleep, a bead from a bracelet choked on.
REACH Regulation, Annex XVII, entry 27 (nickel) — EU limits on nickel release from jewellery and the requirement that a plated finish keep within them for at least two years of normal use.