30 July 2026 · 8 min read

Headstone Wording and Epitaph Examples (100+ Ideas)

Over 100 headstone wording and epitaph examples for a mum, dad, husband, wife, child or grandparent — plus the UK rules, costs and mistakes to avoid before you order.

Whatever you have carved will be read for a very long time by people who never met the person. That's a strange amount of pressure at the worst possible moment, and it's why so many families end up defaulting to a phrase that sounds like everybody else's.

The examples below are here to be borrowed, adapted and mixed. Swap the relationship words, cut a line, change "always" to "forever" — nobody is marking this. What follows is grouped by who you're writing for, with the practical rules at the end.

How a headstone inscription is put together

Nearly all of them follow the same shape:

An opening line — "In loving memory of"
The name — usually the full name, sometimes with a nickname in quotes or brackets
The dates — full dates, or just the years
A relationship line (optional) — "Beloved wife, mother and grandmother"
A closing epitaph — one or two short lines

You have less room than you think. A standard upright headstone takes roughly 30 to 50 words in total, and most masons include a set number of letters in the price and charge for each one beyond it. Write the long version at home, then cut. The short version is almost always better anyway.

Opening lines

In loving memory of
In cherished memory of
Treasured memories of
In memory of
Loving memories of
Remembering
In everlasting memory of
Sacred to the memory of
In proud and loving memory of
Here rests
Here lies
Forever in our hearts

Short epitaphs (one line)

The workhorses. Any of these sit well under a name and dates.

Always in our hearts
Forever loved, never forgotten
Until we meet again
Loved beyond words, missed beyond measure
A life beautifully lived
Gone from our sight, never from our hearts
Loved always, remembered forever
At peace
Rest gently
Simply the best
Deeply loved, dearly missed
The stars shine brighter now
Loved every day, missed every moment
So loved, so missed, so very dear
Together again
Home
A gentle heart at rest
Every day, we remember
Not gone, only ahead
Thank you for everything

For a mum

Beloved mother, treasured friend
She filled our lives with love
The heart of our family
A mother's love never ends
Mum — our safe place, always
She loved us into who we are
Beloved wife, mother and grandmother
Her kindness was her legacy
She made every house a home
Always the first to know, always the last to judge
The door was always open, the kettle always on
Mum, we'll take it from here — with thanks

For a dad

Beloved father, faithful friend
A quiet man, deeply loved
Dad — our steady ground
He taught us how, and why
Beloved husband, father and grandfather
Hard-working, kind-hearted, dearly missed
Everything we know, he showed us
A good man, a great dad
His hands built this family
Always there, never asked for thanks
The last one to sit down, the first to help
Rest now, Dad — you've earned it

For a child or baby

Nobody should have to write one of these. Short is kindest, both to carve and to read.

Too beautiful for earth
Our little one, forever loved
Small hands, endless love
Held for a moment, loved for a lifetime
Always our baby
Sleep gently, little one
A brief life, a lasting love
Our brightest star
Loved before you arrived, loved ever since
Forever three years old, forever ours

For a grandparent

Grandad — the storyteller
Nan — the keeper of us all
Loved by children, adored by grandchildren
Four generations, one big heart
The best of us started with her
The best of us started with him
Great-grandmother to a family she built
Their garden, their table, their family

Non-religious and humanist wording

She lived fully, and she lived well
What we remember is what remains
A life measured in kindness
He belonged to the people who loved him
No endings, only memories
She is in every one of us
The good he did outlives him
Rest, after a long and useful life
Nothing loved is ever lost
Her story goes on in ours

Religious and scriptural wording

Rest in peace
Requiescat in pace
Safe in the arms of Jesus
Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away
The Lord is my shepherd
Well done, good and faithful servant
Into thy hands, O Lord
Asleep in Christ
God saw she was tired
Reunited in God's care

Character, humour and the ones that sound like them

A headstone doesn't have to be solemn, and cemetery staff have seen far bolder. If the person was funny, a formal inscription can feel like a stranger's.

Told you I was ill
Gone fishing
The kettle's on
She never did as she was told
Finally, a lie-in
He always said he'd be first
Loved a bargain
Back of the net

If you go this way, run it past the family first — humour on a stone is permanent, and the sibling who finds it perfect today may not in twenty years.

Poems, lyrics and quotations

Families often want a line from a poem or a song, and this is the one place where the rules bite. Most twentieth-century poems and virtually all modern song lyrics are still in copyright, and carving them technically needs the rights holder's permission. Some masons will ask you to confirm you have it before they'll quote for the work.

Traditional hymns, scripture, and older verse in the public domain carry no such problem. The common workaround for a modern favourite is to use a short phrase rather than a full verse, or to name the song instead — "Their song was Wonderwall" says as much and asks nothing of a lawyer.

Before you order: the practical bit

Get permission first. You need a permit from the burial authority, and the plot's registered owner has to apply. In a Church of England churchyard, the diocese's churchyard regulations govern the stone, the material, the lettering and the wording, and they're noticeably stricter than most council cemeteries — nicknames, colour photographs and polished black granite are often refused. Ask what's allowed before you fall in love with a design.

Expect to wait. Most burial grounds ask for six to twelve months after a burial so the ground settles enough to bear the weight. Masons then need weeks or months to cut and fit. A year from funeral to headstone is entirely normal, and the delay is not a sign that anything has gone wrong.

Use a proper memorial mason. Look for a firm registered with NAMM or BRAMM; burial authorities frequently require it, and fixing standards for headstones exist because unsafe memorials have injured people.

Leave room. If there's any chance of a partner joining the grave later, plan the layout now. Adding a second inscription to a stone designed for one is expensive, and sometimes impossible.

Proofread it three times, with three people. Read the proof aloud, letter by letter, and check the dates against the death certificate rather than memory. A carved mistake is corrected by recutting the whole stone.

When a stone isn't enough room

The real constraint of a headstone is that fifty words have to stand in for a whole person. Everything else — how they took their tea, the year they drove to Cornwall in a broken-down Escort, what they were like at Christmas, the photographs sitting on four different phones — has nowhere to go.

That's the job an online memorial does alongside the stone. There's no letter limit, no permit, and no waiting for the ground to settle: you can put up their name and one photograph today and add the stories as they come back to you over months. Relatives who can't get to the cemetery — abroad, elderly, or simply far away — can visit, light a candle, and leave their own memories, so the words gather in one place instead of scattering.

The epitaph you choose is the short version. It's worth having somewhere to keep the long one.

If you'd like help with that longer piece, our guide on what to write on an online memorial page walks through it with examples, and how to write a eulogy for a parent covers the spoken version. For a plaque in the garden rather than the cemetery, the same wording works — see memorial garden ideas for how families set them.

Frequently asked questions

What do you write on a headstone?

The standard structure is an opening line ('In loving memory of'), the full name, the dates or years, and a short closing epitaph of one or two lines. Some families add a relationship line — 'Beloved wife, mother and grandmother' — between the name and the epitaph. That's usually all there is room for, and the short closing line is the part people actually read and remember.

How many words fit on a headstone?

Far fewer than most families expect. A typical upright headstone comfortably holds around 30 to 50 words across six to ten short lines, and a smaller plaque or kerb stone holds much less. Many masons charge per letter beyond an included allowance, so length has a cost as well as a look. Write what you want to say first, then cut it to the shortest version that still sounds like them.

How long do you have to wait before putting up a headstone?

Usually six to twelve months after a burial, so the ground can settle enough to take the weight safely. Your cemetery or churchyard will tell you their requirement. You'll also need a permit from the burial authority, and in a Church of England churchyard the inscription and materials must meet the diocese's regulations, which are stricter than most council cemeteries — approval is worth confirming before anything is carved.

Can you put a song lyric or a poem on a headstone?

Sometimes, but check first. Most modern song lyrics and twentieth-century poems are still in copyright, and reproducing them on a memorial technically requires permission from the rights holder. Some stonemasons will ask you to confirm you have it. Traditional hymns, scripture and older public-domain verse are safe, and many families sidestep the issue by using a short phrase from the work rather than a full verse.