Back in my retail days (I call them the lost years), I was once manning the Topshop tills serving a customer; who seemed to be a perfect stranger, for her to look at me and bluntly ask ‘is your name Polly?’. Shocked and a bit worried, I instantly wracked my brain to think if I was meant to know her. Being the polite gal that I am, I would have faked recognising her anyway and made awkward conversation, but when I responded with ‘erm, yes, why?’ she just replied with ‘ah, I like your necklace’ – and that’s when it became clear. I was of course wearing my name necklace. That is one of the side effects of owning a name or word necklace. People always ask questions. I mean it could also be seen as a good conversation starter ‘Oh my great aunt was called Polly..’ etc, but wearing a word brazenly across your chest is just asking strangers to comment. Saying this, I think word necklaces are fun and always a good idea – I don’t know, maybe I enjoy talking to strangers..

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Tatty Devine // I recieved my lovely gold name necklace when I was interning at Tatty Devine. The fab jewellery company have the sweet tradition of gifting every intern with a name necklace of their choice, choosing colour, size, and what you want written. Gift wrapping many of these for delivery every day in the studio was a part of my job, and me and the other interns found it hilarious what some people were asking to be created. Ranging from swear words to statements, the necklaces are just a bit of fun. Even on a recent episode of ‘Don’t Tell the Bride’ I recognised the Tatty name necklaces that were bought for the bridesmaids, each with their personal nicknames on. One of the girl’s nicknames happened to be ‘Stinks’, so maybe this written in large holographic perspex wasn’t the best idea… Luckily I got mine for free, as at £37.50 they are super pricey – but I feel worth it for something so personal. The website gives you all the fun choices to make your own necklace, and has a gallery of other people’s creations, for inspiration. 

Plastique // I stumbled upon this brand over on Etsy, and found that Plastique feels a bit more fashion-y and less novelty within the world of word necklaces. They make other jewellery besides word necklaces, but it was the ‘hell yeah’ one that caught my eye. They also do these cute single letter necklaces, the ‘apple Z’ one being perfect for all computer geeks! 

Supah // Another Etsy find, I discovered these cute-ass necklaces when looking for a gift. I haven’t bought one yet, as it’s damn hard to choose between them! I mean who doesn’t want to own a gold ‘Pizza’ necklace..? Etsy is of course great for this kind of stuff, silly novelty jewellery. But what I think is great about Supah is that at a glance, the necklaces look pretty normal… it’s only on closer inspection that people may take a proper read and realise you may have taken your love for taco’s a bit too far.

Brevity // Brevity is a lovely company that specialise in personalised jewellery where as well as getting the name, word or phrase turned into a stunning necklace, you can even create it in your own handwriting or signature. The idea is brilliant, and makes the pieces all the more personal and special. On their blog you can read people’s heart warming stories behind the jewellery they purchased, which are sure to make you smile. What better way to cherish a person’s memory than to get something written in their handwriting that you can wear every day. The pieces are much more expensive (around $200) but would be a perfect present for a special occasion.