There are a lot of swallow tattoo designs that would look great on your body. The good thing about the swallow is it can look great on both male and female. The swallow is a symbol of hope, usually used for its nautical reasons meaning land is near. Sailors use swallow tattoo designs as a symbol that they have travelled five thousand nautical miles. If you have two swallow tattoos then you have travelled ten thousand nautical miles. Ancient Egyptians said that killing a swallow is unlucky. For them, swallows are the ones taking the soul of a dead child to the underworld.
The swallow tattoo designs can be associated with good and bad reasons. Ancient poets use the swallow as a sign of spring and the end of winter. Ancient Chinese and Greek paintings use the swallow for showing hope for the future. Sailors use the swallow to depict that land is near. Usually, swallows are the first signs that there is hope ahead.
For Egyptians, the swallow is a sign of new love. Since swallows bring hope, the early Egyptians use the bird as a symbol for hope for a new love. However, in Japan the swallow symbolizes unfaithfulness. The same goes with China since it symbolizes danger and change for things to come.
Blue birds are often mistaken for swallow tattoo designs. It is understandable since both birds have the same blue and orange designs with some red and yellow accents. Most of the modern swallow tattoo designs are associated with love. 
The famous designs have the bird holding a heart or sometimes two hearts with the names on banners. For guys, they add different designs with the swallow like barb wires or lightning marks to give it a masculine touch. For sailors, it is known that a swallow with a dagger in its heart means that a close friend died.
