My initials spell C.A.T., which is also my nickname. My parents, sister, husband, and some friends call me “Cat” to this day. My grandmother (bless her) even thought my name was Catherine at one point. Coincidentally, the first letters of the first names of my immediate family members spell “CATS”: Caroline, Andy, Theo, and Sloane. And despite all this, I’m a dog person!

Why am I telling you this? Because today we’re talking about: initial jewelry.

I find personalized jewelry so charming. Wearing my own initials feels coy and oddly collegiate–like I’m in a sorority of one. Wearing my loved ones’ initials feels sentimental and romantic, like I’m carrying them with me.

I recently bought this red enamel “C” dog tag pendant from Sparklane after ogling their Instagram posts for months:

It layers well with other necklaces, and I love the old-timey font. Sparklane has lots of other colorful and graphic initial offerings, like these:

I purchased this stamped charm necklace featuring my husband’s and kids’ initials from the mega source for initial and monogrammed goodies, Mark & Graham:

You might have noticed that the “A” charm is gold while the other two are silver. That’s because this was originally supposed to be a necklace for only my kids’ initials. But when my husband caught wind that he had been omitted, he was hurt. So to appease him, I bought him a special golden “A” charm. Now people regularly ask me about my three kids…

Mark & Graham has so many other great initial options, like these:

This ring dates back to my elementary school days. I vaguely remember buying it at a kiosk on Navy Pier where they twisted wire to spell your name:

I’ve saved it all these years because it’s still cute, it still fits, and my name is still Cat. For similar items that don’t require a trip to Chicago, see here and here.

Finally, I got these enamel initial pins at Gap approximately 100 years ago. I like to pin them on a jean jacket or canvas bag for a whimsical touch:

These silly Monogram Pins from Anthropologie achieve a similar playful vibe (they’re filed under “Kids & Babies” but I don’t subscribe to those labels):

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As with all things, the Internet holds a veritable ton of options for initial jewelry for you to explore. Here are just a handful of pieces that I’ve been eyeing lately:

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C. U. Soon!