Promise Ring Meaning

What's the meaning behind a promise ring anyway? When I first came across the words promise rings, I got all confused. Was it some kind of ring that was similar to an engagement ring? What was the 'promise' that was attached to it? Was it a declaration of one's undying love to another? Or was it less serious a commitment and therefore didn't carry as much weight as the engagement ring? We all know what the meaning of engagment rings and a wedding rings is, but a promise ring has a more ambiguous meaning.

Well for a start, a promise ring is usually given as a promise to the other party that the couple is now in an exclusive relationship and would reserve themselves for each other only. How's that different from an engagment ring? Well, a promise ring is kind of one level down from the engagement ring, a kind of pre-engagment ring if you like. It's not tied to a proposal to marry - as most engagement rings are, it's a declaration of exclusivity of the relationship.

Interestingly enough, in my research of promise rings I came across another meaning and it had nothing to do with a love between a man and a woman. In fact, promise rings were also given to virgin girls by the parents as an agreement between the parties that the girl would remain a virgin till she married and got her wedding ring. I think however, that this meaning is the more obscure and in general, most believe promise rings to take on the earlier meaning.

Click here to view men's promise rings