Across 23 real CAD sheets for name and initial pendants, the gold ran from 3 g to 40 g of 10K, with a middle value of 14.8 g. A dainty nameplate holds about 3–3.5 g, a script name 6.5–12 g, and iced bubble letters on a plate 10–26 g. Stones follow the gold: about 0.15 ct for every gram, so a 15 g iced pendant carries around 2.3 ct. The same design weighs about 13% more in 14K, because 14K gold is denser. Our shipping policy puts production at about 4–6 weeks, and our past custom pendants took a median of 48 days from first payment.
- Style and size move the gold more than the letter count: the same five-letter name came out at 11 g in an open script, 35.8 mm wide, and 20 g in graffiti letters on a plate, 50 mm wide.
- Size it by face area: bubble letters on a 3–4 mm plate run about 1.4–2.1 g of 10K per square centimeter of face; open script about 0.8–1.6 g.
- Stones are tiny and many: 81 to 644 stones per piece on the sheets that list a count, each about 0.6–1.9 mm.
- You approve a CAD sheet first: it shows the letter height, width, thickness, bail opening, estimated gold weight and stone weight before anything is cast.
- Gold is the floor of the price: grams × karat × today's gold price, shown live below. Stones and setting come on top.
- Gold weight by style and size
- How to estimate any name pendant
- What the gold is worth today
- Lettering styles, bails and finishes
- 10K, 14K or 18K
- Moissanite, lab-grown or natural diamonds
- What drives the price
- From your name to the finished pendant
- Choosing the chain
- Method, data and last updated
- Frequently asked questions
Bubble letters on a plate with a crown bail: the heaviest of the common styles.
Gold Weight by Style and Size
We read 23 real CAD sheets for name and initial pendants from our design files. Each sheet prints the piece's size and its estimated gold and stone weight before casting. The chart groups them by style. Every dot is one design.
Size is letter height × width, without the bail. Weights are the estimates printed on each CAD sheet in 10K gold; two 14K sheets are converted to their 10K equivalent. The final cast weight is approximate.
Our two name pendant listings, as printed
Two name pendants are listed on our site with their size and weight. The Custom Diamond Name Pendant shows a two-line sample at 50.8 mm wide and 30.4 mm tall, listed at 25 g in 10K and 30 g in 14K, with about 4–5 ct of stones. By weight, that sits on the bubble-letter row above. The Solid Name Bar Pendant is a plain engraved bar, 59.81 mm tall and 5.45 mm wide, listed at 14 g in 10K, 16 g in 14K and 18 g in 18K.
How to Estimate Any Name Pendant
You don't need a CAD sheet to get close. Three things set the gold: the face size, the thickness and the style.
- Face size. Multiply the letter height by the width, in centimeters. A name 2.4 cm tall and 5 cm wide has a 12 cm² face. On the sheets, face size alone explained most of the difference in weight.
- Grams per square centimeter. Bubble letters on a 3–4 mm plate ran about 1.4–2.1 g of 10K per cm². Open script, 1.3–3 mm thick, ran about 0.8–1.6 g. So the 12 cm² bubble name above lands at roughly 17–25 g. The real sheets for names that size printed 18 g and 23 g.
- Thickness. Plate pieces were 3–5 mm thick. The lightest scripts were 1.3–2 mm. A thicker piece is sturdier and heavier.
- Karat. 14K gold is denser than 10K (about 13.1 vs 11.6 g/cm³), so the same design weighs about 13% more in 14K, and more again in 18K. Our two listings, whose weights are rounded, show 14–20% more in 14K.
- Stones. Carats rose with the gold: about 0.15 ct per gram of 10K in the middle, from 0.12 to 0.25. A 20 g iced piece usually carries around 3 ct.
Why per-letter rules mislead. Gold per letter ran 0.5–0.6 g on dainty nameplates, 0.8–2.2 g on script names and about 2–4.3 g on bubble letters. A short name in bubble letters can outweigh a long name in script. The clearest case on the sheets is one five-letter name drawn twice at almost the same height: 11 g and 1.85 ct as an open script, 35.8 mm wide, and 20 g and 2.82 ct as graffiti letters on a plate, 50 mm wide. Same name, nearly double the gold.
What the Gold Is Worth Today
The gold in a pendant is its weight times the price per gram for its karat. That is its gold value, or melt value. It is the floor of the price, not the price. The table uses the weights from the chart at today's live gold price.
Gold value of the same number of grams in each karat. Remember that the same design weighs about 13% more in 14K. Values refresh with the live price at the top of the page. For the per-gram details, see our 14K gold price per gram guide.
Lettering Styles, Bails and Finishes
Here is the same word in the four lettering styles buyers ask for most. Each one wears and weighs differently.
- Script (cursive). Joined, flowing letters. The lightest way to wear a name: 6.5–12 g on the sheets, often with one row of stones along the strokes. Thin joins need enough thickness to stay strong, so ask for the thickness on your sheet.
- Block. Upright capitals, each letter its own shape, often joined by a bar. Reads clearly from a distance and suits plain polished gold or engraving.
- Old English. Gothic blackletter with sharp points. A classic men's style in polished gold. None of our 23 sheets used it, so we can't give you a measured range for it.
- Bubble and graffiti. Puffy letters, usually set edge to edge with stones and raised on an outline plate. The heaviest common style: 10–26 g on the sheets, 3–4 mm thick.
- Nameplate and bar. A name on a flat plate or bar, engraved or cut out. The dainty plates on the sheets were 3–3.5 g; our engraved bar is listed at 14 g in 10K.
Iced, two-tone and enamel
"Iced" or pavé means stones cover the letters. On the 23 sheets, 11 showed white letters on a yellow gold plate (two-tone, with the white from rhodium plating), and 5 added an enamel color, usually on the bail. Two-tone helps the letters stand out from the plate. Enamel and rhodium each add a finishing step.
The bail is part of the design
The bail is the loop the chain runs through. On a name pendant it is often a small sculpture of its own: 8 of the 23 sheets used a heart, 2 a crown, and others a butterfly, a flower, a cat or a second word. Plan it with the name, at a size that balances the letters, and check its opening against your chain (see choosing the chain).
10K, 14K or 18K
10K gold is 41.7% pure gold, 14K is 58.3% and 18K is 75%. More gold means a richer yellow and a higher gold value per gram. 10K is the harder-wearing, lower-cost choice, and 21 of the 23 sheets were drawn in 10K. Our Custom Diamond Name Pendant is offered in 10K and 14K; the Solid Name Bar Pendant in 10K, 14K and 18K. For the full comparison, read 10K vs 14K vs 18K gold.
Moissanite, Lab-Grown or Natural Diamonds
Our Custom Diamond Name Pendant comes with three stone choices. The stones on a name pendant are small, about 0.6–1.9 mm each on the sheets, so the choice is mostly about budget and what the stone is.
In a pavé name pendant, moissanite, lab-grown and natural diamonds can look alike from a normal distance, but they are priced far apart. Pick moissanite for the most sparkle per dollar, lab-grown if you want a real diamond at a lower cost, and natural if a mined diamond matters to you. For the long version, read moissanite vs lab-grown vs natural diamonds.
What Drives the Price
Our prices follow the live gold market, so we don't print fixed name pendant prices here. Every quote is built from the same parts:
- Gold weight and karat. The floor, and the part you can check yourself in the table above. Style and size set the grams.
- Stones. The carat weight (it rises with the gold) times the stone type. Moissanite costs the least and natural diamonds the most.
- Setting. An iced name holds hundreds of stones: 81 to 644 on the sheets that list a count, with a middle value of 381. Each one has to be set, which adds bench time.
- Design and finish. Two-tone rhodium, enamel, engraving on the back and a sculpted bail each add a step.
If the first quote is above your budget, step down in size, thickness or karat before you give up the style. Moving from 14K to 10K, or from full pavé to one row of stones, keeps the look and lowers the gold and stone cost. For how custom quotes work across every piece type, see how much custom gold jewelry costs.
From Your Name to the Finished Pendant
Tap each step to see what happens and how long it takes.
How long it actually took. Our shipping policy says made-to-order items "take approximately 4–6 weeks before shipping." In our order records, 45 past custom pendants of every type, not only names, took a median of 48 days from the first payment to the day they shipped or were handed over, and half of them took between 31 and 64 days. That clock includes the design back-and-forth and, for some clients, the time between payments. It's history, not a promise. If you need the pendant by a birthday or a holiday, say so at the start.
Ready to design yours? Our custom gold pendants page shows the custom pendants we make and starts your quote.
Choosing the Chain
Match the chain to the pendant's weight and to its bail. On the sheets, bail openings ran from 4 mm to 13.7 mm, and about half were 7–9 mm. The chain has to pass through that opening, clasp included, so check both numbers before you order. Our Solid Name Bar Pendant's description says its bail fits most 2–4 mm chains.
- Dainty nameplates (3–3.5 g): a fine chain that suits the plate's size.
- Script names (6.5–12 g): a rope or a slim tennis chain. Rope's twist suits polished gold. See the grams and widths in our rope chain size and weight chart and shop rope chains.
- Iced bubble names (15 g and up): a chain with enough body to carry the piece without flipping it. Our listing photos show iced name pendants on gold tennis chains; a Miami Cuban link chain is the heavy option.
Want the chain made to order too? See our custom gold chains.
Method, Data and Last Updated
- CAD data: 23 CAD sheets for name and initial pendants from our design files, 2026: 22 sheets plus the crown-bail sheet shown above. Each sheet prints the letter height, width and thickness in mm, an estimated gold weight ("approx.") and the stone weight. 21 sheets were 10K and two were 14K; we converted the two 14K weights to 10K at the density ratio of the two alloys. Size groups are ours. Apart from the crown-bail sheet shown above, the sheets appear here only as anonymous numbers. They are designs, not weighed finished pieces.
- Listings: sizes, weights, stone grades and karats for our two name pendants come from their product pages, November 2026.
- Gold values: the live gold price for each karat, from the same feed as our gold price guides. The example weights come from the chart.
- Timing: the estimate is quoted from our shipping policy. The history covers 45 completed custom pendants of all types in our order records, April 2025 to November 2026, counted from the first payment to shipped or handed over.
- Images: the bubble-letter, Old English and four-style images are design illustrations, not finished client pieces. The two product photos come from our listings, and the CAD sheet is a real design sheet with a reference code removed.
- Last updated: November 2026. Gold prices change daily, so treat any figure as a guide, not a quote.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does a custom name pendant cost?
It depends on the gold weight and karat, then the stones and the setting. The gold sets the floor: a typical 15 g iced name holds about $794 of gold in 10K at today's price, before stones or labor. Send your name, style and budget, and we'll quote it.
How much gold is in a name pendant?
On 23 real CAD sheets, from 3 g to 40 g of 10K, with a middle value of 14.8 g. Dainty nameplates held 3–3.5 g, script names 6.5–12 g and bubble letters on a plate 10–26 g.
Can I get a real diamond name pendant?
Yes. Our Custom Diamond Name Pendant comes with natural diamonds or lab-grown diamonds, and both are real diamonds. Moissanite is the third choice. It's a different gem that costs less.
Moissanite or diamonds for an iced name pendant?
The stones are small, about 0.6–1.9 mm, so in pavé they can look alike from a normal distance. Moissanite gives the most sparkle for the money. Choose lab-grown or natural if you want a diamond.
How long does a custom name pendant take?
Our shipping policy estimates approximately 4–6 weeks of production for made-to-order items. In our records, past custom pendants took a median of 48 days from the first payment to shipped or handed over. Your timeline is set when you order.
What size should a men's name pendant be?
The sheets don't say who wore each piece, so size it by the look you want. Iced bubble names on the sheets ran 17–28 mm tall, 38–65 mm wide and 3–4 mm thick, at 10–26 g of 10K; the oversized pieces had 32–49 mm letters and 31–40 g. Go wider for a longer name, and taller if you want it to read from across a room.
What chain goes with a name pendant?
One that passes through the bail and carries the weight. About half the bail openings on the sheets were 7–9 mm. Rope and tennis chains are the usual pairings; heavy iced names can go on a Cuban link.
Can I see the design before it's made?
Yes. You approve a CAD sheet with the size, thickness, bail opening and estimated gold and stone weights before anything is cast.
Can the name have an accent, a number or two lines?
Yes. The CAD sheet above carries an accent mark, and our Custom Diamond Name Pendant listing shows a number above the name. Send the exact spelling, and check it on your CAD sheet.
Should I choose 10K or 14K?
10K costs less and is harder-wearing; 21 of the 23 sheets were 10K. 14K has more gold and a richer color, and the same design weighs about 13% more.
Related Guides and Collections
- Custom projects and quote form — Start your pendant
- Custom gold pendants — Design yours and get a quote
- Custom and personalized jewelry guide — Custom vs semi-custom vs personalized
- Men's gold pendants — The full pendant collection
- 10K gold price per gram — Live 10K value
- Financing — Pay over time with Affirm, Klarna or Afterpay: 0% APR plans for those who qualify, subject to approval
Start from one of our two name pendants, or send your own idea and we'll send you a CAD design to approve. Prefer to talk? Call (321) 521-4651 or visit us at 1056 SW 67th Ave, Miami.
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