Wedding Anniversaries
💍 Wedding Anniversary Names by Year
Each year of marriage has a traditional name, and the names run from soft materials to hard, lasting ones. The four almost everyone looks up are below; the full list follows.
How the list works
There is a name for every year up to the 15th, and after that for every fifth year — 20, 25, 30 and so on. That is why there is a 14th anniversary name but no 16th. This page lists 25 named years in total, ending at the 70th.
Some years carry a second, more recent name as well. Where a modern name is widely cited and differs from the traditional one, both are shown below — that is the case for the 20th, 30th, 35th. Everywhere else the traditional name is the one in common use, so only one name is given rather than a guess.
Years 1 to 15 — one name each year
| Year | Traditional name |
|---|---|
| 1st | Paper |
| 2nd | Cotton |
| 3rd | Leather |
| 4th | Fruit & Flowers |
| 5th | Wood |
| 6th | Iron |
| 7th | Wool (Copper) |
| 8th | Bronze |
| 9th | Pottery |
| 10th | Tin |
| 11th | Steel |
| 12th | Silk |
| 13th | Lace |
| 14th | Ivory |
| 15th | Crystal |
The 20th onwards — every five years
| Year | Traditional name | Modern (US) |
|---|---|---|
| 20th | China | Platinum |
| 25th | Silver | — |
| 30th | Pearl | Diamond |
| 35th | Coral | Jade |
| 40th | Ruby | — |
| 45th | Sapphire | — |
| 50th | Gold | — |
| 55th | Emerald | — |
| 60th | Diamond | — |
| 70th | Platinum | — |
There is no single official list
Anniversary names are a custom, not a standard. Lists agree on the well-known milestones — Paper, Silver, Gold, Diamond — but disagree on several of the years in between, in the same way that birthstone and birth-flower lists disagree. This page uses the most widely cited names. In the British tradition the 65th is Blue Sapphire and the 75th is Diamond or Platinum, which is why you will sometimes see Diamond against two different years.
Names only — no gift suggestions or symbolic meanings are attached here, because those vary by retailer rather than by tradition. About our data
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