Dukes wore them. So did engineers, Roosevelts and movie gangsters. A short history of the pinky ring for men, and the practical part nobody tells you: what size, which hand and what kind of ring actually works on the smallest finger.
Ask ten men why they wear a ring on the little finger and you will get ten answers. One inherited it from his grandfather. One got it on the day he qualified as an engineer. One simply liked the way it looked and didn't want anything on his ring finger that might be mistaken for a wedding band. All of them are right. The pinky ring has never had a single meaning, which is part of why it has lasted.
Where the tradition comes from
The oldest reason is practical. Before most people could sign their names, a man's signet ring was his signature. He pressed it into hot wax to seal a letter or a contract. Worn on the little finger of the left hand, it stayed clear of the hand that held the pen, or so the usual explanation goes. In Britain that placement stuck. Many British men who wear a family signet still wear it on the left pinky, and the habit spread through the royal family in the nineteenth century, when Queen Victoria's sons took it up. Across the Atlantic, Franklin D. Roosevelt wore his signet the same way.
The twentieth century gave the pinky ring a second career. In Canada, newly qualified engineers have been given a plain ring at a private ceremony since April 1925, when the first six received theirs in Montreal. The words of that ceremony were written by Rudyard Kipling. The ring is worn on the little finger of the working hand, where its owner sees it every time he picks up a pen to sign off on a design. American engineers picked up a similar custom in 1970 with the Order of the Engineer.
Hollywood added the third chapter. Films from Little Caesar to The Godfather put a heavy gold ring on the little finger of every man who ran a room he shouldn't have, and for a few decades that was what a pinky ring meant in America. It is the association most people mention first, and the least interesting one.
China has its own version. An old folk saying holds that a ring on the little finger keeps away the "small people": the petty, the two-faced, the colleague who smiles at you and then talks behind your back. Nobody treats it as a rule. It is the kind of thing a grandmother says when she gives you one.
What it means today
Mostly, that you chose it. A ring on the fourth finger of the left hand says something about a marriage. A ring on the index finger is a statement and expects to be noticed. The little finger is the one finger with no fixed job, so whatever goes there is personal. For a lot of men it is the first ring they buy for themselves rather than receive, and that may be the closest thing to a modern meaning it has.
Which hand?
Short answer: either hand. Most men wear it on the hand without a watch or a wedding band.
There is no rule anyone will hold you to. The British signet tradition says left. The engineers say whichever hand you write with. In practice, most men choose the hand that doesn't wear a watch, so the two don't compete, or the non-dominant hand, so the ring takes fewer knocks. If you wear a wedding band, a pinky ring on the same hand can look crowded. Try both hands in a mirror before you decide.
Getting the size right
This is where most pinky rings go wrong. Your little finger is a good deal smaller than your ring finger, usually by three or four US sizes. If you wear a US 11 on your ring finger, start by looking at a US 7 or 8 for the pinky.
The surest way is to measure it:
- Wrap a thin strip of paper or a piece of string around the base of your little finger.
- Mark where it overlaps, lay it flat and measure the length in millimetres.
- Check it against a ring size chart, and make sure the ring will still pass over your knuckle.
- Measure at the end of the day, when your fingers are at their largest. Cold mornings give you a size that will be tight by evening.
A ring that is a little loose on the pinky is more of a problem than on other fingers, because the small finger moves a lot and a loose ring slips off without you noticing. Between two sizes, take the smaller one, especially if the band is open at the back and can be eased by hand.
What kind of ring works on the little finger
Keep the band slim. A wide band on the smallest finger stops it bending properly and makes the hand look heavy. Let the detail sit in the head of the ring instead. A signet, a small carved face or a single stone all work, because they read clearly at a distance without needing much room.
Height matters too. A ring that stands 20 millimetres off the finger is wonderful on an index or middle finger and awkward on a pinky, where it catches on pockets and knocks into the next finger. Big statement rings like our Roaring Bear Ring belong on the larger fingers.
The ring we made specifically for this finger is the Garuda Garnet Pinky Ring. The band is slim, with feathers carved along it, and the garuda's head is no bigger than a grain of rice. Its eyes, brows and horns are fire-gilded in 24K gold, worked by hand under a 40× microscope because the gilded surfaces are under a millimetre wide. A natural garnet sits in the brow. It also comes in sizes up to US 13, so it can be worn as an ordinary statement ring on a bigger finger if you change your mind.
If you want the classic signet look instead, the Son of the Forest Ring is a signet with a pierced Celtic tree of life on its face. It comes in US 8 to 12, so as a pinky ring it suits larger hands, roughly anyone who wears a US 11 or above on the ring finger. Choose the size you measured for your little finger, not the one you wear elsewhere.
A few things to avoid
- Stacking a pinky ring right next to another large ring on the ring finger. Give each one some space.
- Buying your usual size. It will be too big.
- Forcing an open band wider or narrower with pliers. Small adjustments by hand are fine; anything more should be done by a jeweller.
If the size isn't right when it arrives, we exchange rings for another size within 14 days of delivery. Details are in our Refund Policy.
One last thing
Old customs aside, we don't claim a ring on any finger will change your luck or keep anyone away. What we can say is that the little finger has carried signets, engineers' oaths and family heirlooms for a long time, and it is still the best place for a ring you chose for yourself.
Garuda Garnet Pinky Ring · Son of the Forest Ring · All pieces
More from the Journal: Garuda in Tibet: The Bird That Eats Poison · The Celtic Tree of Life