Some men do wear engagement rings, but in the United States it is still uncommon: in The Knot’s 2011 study, 5% of grooms wore one, and we found no newer count for grooms overall. A man’s engagement ring usually goes where a woman’s does, on the left ring finger. At the wedding he can stack it with the band, move it to the right hand, let one ring do both jobs, or retire it. In Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and several other countries, both partners traditionally wear one. Sterling silver works for a first ring, but for decades of daily wear, gold or platinum holds up better.
Key takeaways
- Men’s engagement rings are uncommon in the US. The best count, 5% of grooms, dates from 2011.
- In parts of Europe and South America, both partners traditionally wear one, often a plain band.
- In the US, it usually goes on the left ring finger, where his wedding band will go.
- Decide before the wedding what happens to it: stack it, move it, make it the wedding band, or retire it.
- Silver suits a proposal ring or a stand-in. For one ring worn every day for decades, gold or platinum lasts longer.
In this guide Do men wear them History Around the world Which hand At the wedding Styles Silver Proposing FAQ
Do men wear engagement rings?
Some do, but not many in the United States. The best count comes from The Knot’s 2011 Engagement & Jewelry Study of more than 10,000 US brides and 1,000 grooms: “5% of grooms wear an engagement ring along with the bride.” We found no newer figure for grooms overall; the releases from The Knot’s later jewelry studies that we checked don’t report one.
Interest runs ahead of practice. In a 2012 survey by TheKnot.com and Men’s Health, 17% of men said they would wear a “man-gagement” ring, though the survey ran on the two websites rather than as a random poll. In a 2023 YouGov poll of 1,000 US adults, only 34% loved or liked the custom of women but not men wearing engagement rings, and “39% of women under 45 but just 18% of women older than 45” disliked or hated it.
The clearest US example of men exchanging engagement rings comes from same-sex couples. In The Knot and Q.Digital’s 2017 LGBTQ Weddings Study of 821 US respondents, 60% of men exchanged engagement rings during the proposal, compared with 86% of women.
Whether the “mangagement” ring is finally catching on depends on whom you ask. JCK wrote in 2019 that it had “arguably fallen flat,” and in 2021 that most attempts to introduce it “haven’t been successful”; in 2022 the same magazine said it “has taken off as a trend in recent years.” Without new data, the fair summary is that jewelers keep launching men’s engagement rings, and that they are still uncommon.
An idea jewelers have pushed for a century
The jewelry trade tried to sell men engagement rings as early as the 1920s. Historian Vicki Howard, author of Brides, Inc., found the campaigns in back issues of JCK: “The ads used words like he-man and had names like the Stag to fight the idea that rings are for women,” she told the magazine in 2021. They didn’t catch on.
Even the men’s wedding band is fairly new. Men’s wedding rings were “relatively rare prior to World War II,” JCK noted in the same article, and the BBC says the war “is considered to have heralded a seismic shift, as many Western men fighting overseas chose to wear wedding rings.” By the mid-20th century, a Victoria and Albert Museum curator told the BBC, the custom had become mainstream.
Big names have tried again since. In 2021, Tiffany & Co. introduced the Charles Tiffany Setting, its “first-ever collection of engagement rings for men,” JCK reported: platinum and titanium rings that Tiffany said recall “a signet silhouette,” each set with a center diamond.
Where men traditionally wear one
In some countries, a man with an engagement ring is nothing unusual. “Men wearing engagement rings in the U.S. or U.K. is a rare sight,” JCK noted in 2018, “but in Sweden, it’s customary for men and women to wear an engagement ring (which are traditionally plain bands).” The same holds, with local variations, in several other countries.
| Country | Who wears one | Which hand | At the wedding |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Who wears oneTraditionally only the woman | Which handLeft | At the weddingUsually stays on, with the wedding band |
| Sweden | Who wears oneBoth partners, traditionally plain bands | Which handLeft | At the weddingHis band usually doubles as his wedding ring; she gets a second ring |
| Denmark | Who wears oneBoth partners; common even in the countryside by about 1900 | Which handLeft | At the weddingNot covered by our source |
| Germany | Who wears oneBoth partners | Which handLeft | At the weddingMoves to the right hand |
| Chile | Who wears oneBoth partners | Which handRight | At the weddingMoves to the left hand |
| Argentina | Who wears oneBoth partners, usually band-style rings | Which handRight | At the weddingMoves to the left hand |
| Brazil | Who wears oneBoth partners wear the gold wedding band while engaged | Which handRight | At the weddingThe same band moves to the left hand |
Two patterns stand out. Where our sources describe the rings, they are usually plain bands rather than solitaires, and a man’s often goes on to serve as his wedding ring, either on the same hand or after a switch at the ceremony. Our sources also disagree on the hand for several countries, including Denmark and Germany, so if you’re marrying into one of these traditions, ask the family.
Which hand does a man wear an engagement ring on?
In the US, the left ring finger, the same finger as the wedding band that will follow. That is the custom here for any engagement ring, and we found no US source that treats a man’s differently. One catch: a plain band on that finger reads as a wedding band, as our guide to how men wear rings notes, so people may assume he’s already married. A ring with a stone or a signet face is less likely to be mistaken for one.
Nothing requires the left hand. Jewelers Mutual says there is “no correct way” to wear engagement rings and wedding bands, and in Chile, Argentina, and Brazil the custom is reported to be the right hand until the wedding. If he already wears a promise ring on his left hand, moving it to the right makes room.
Size the ring for the hand and finger he’ll wear it on. The dominant hand usually runs about half a size larger, and a band 6 mm or wider needs a half size more, according to our ring size guide.
What he does with it at the wedding
It’s easy to leave this until the wedding bands are on order, and by then the choice may already be made for you. Settle it first, because it decides whether the two rings need to fit together.
- Stack it. Wear both on the left ring finger. Tradition puts the wedding band on first, closest to the hand, with the engagement ring on top. Vogue describes brides moving the engagement ring to the right hand for the ceremony and stacking it back on top afterward, and David’s Bridal notes that many couples skip that step. Two wide bands crowd one finger, so if he plans to stack, slim bands of 2 to 3 mm are made for it, as our guide to how men wear rings notes.
- Move it to the right hand. “After marrying, some move their engagement rings to their right hands instead of stacking both rings on the same finger, as women tend to do,” The Independent reported in 2017.
- Make it the wedding band. One ring does both jobs. In Sweden, a man’s plain engagement band usually doubles as his wedding ring, and some engaged men simply wear their wedding band early. “There’s also a growing number of engaged men wearing their wedding band ahead of the wedding,” Severine Ferrari, founder of Propose Too, told JCK in 2020. If you go this way, buy the band he wants for life, in the metal he wants for life.
- Retire it. Wear only the wedding band and keep the engagement ring for special occasions. Relaying feedback from designer Chris Ploof, Ferrari told JCK in 2018: “Wearing a wedding band is already a big commitment for some guys, so they are not going to wear two rings after the wedding.”
What men’s engagement rings look like
“Men’s rings tend to be plain gold, silver or platinum bands, possibly with small diamonds too,” The Independent wrote, and the plain band is also the traditional form in Sweden and Argentina. Beyond that, the styles jewelers have launched fall into a few groups:
- Plain or textured bands. The simplest choice, and the easiest to turn into a wedding band later. Our guide to silver band rings covers textures and widths.
- Signet-style rings with a center stone. Tiffany’s 2021 collection takes this shape, with round brilliant or emerald-cut diamonds of up to 5 carats.
- Solitaires. In early 2022, JCK reported that Smiling Rocks had launched six men’s solitaire engagement rings with lab-grown center stones of 1 to 3 carats.
- Designer bands. A 2016 JCK roundup of eight men’s engagement bands ran from $455 to $15,998, including a silver band set with black diamonds.
- Not a ring at all. In 2018, Ferrari’s Propose Too introduced a stainless-steel, dog-tag-style engagement pendant bearing the word “Engaged,” designed with jeweler Chris Ploof after he told her some men won’t wear two rings after the wedding. JCK called it “a smart alternative to the often-shirked mangagement ring.” Our guide to buying a pendant as a gift covers the options.
We found no reliable average price for a man’s engagement ring. For scale, couples in The Knot’s 2015 study spent an average of $558 on the groom’s wedding band.
Can a man’s engagement ring be sterling silver?
Yes, and at least one famous one is silver: Ed Sheeran said in 2018 that his fiancée made his engagement ring “herself out of silver clay,” JCK reported. But silver is an unusual choice for a ring meant to last a lifetime. In 2015, GIA described sterling as “rarely used for engagement rings or wedding bands” and “not the most durable of metals,” and Jewelers Mutual notes that silver is softer than white gold, “so it’s more prone to scratches, dents and tarnishing.” The release for The Knot’s 2015 study names tungsten (30%), white gold (27%), yellow gold (12%), and titanium (12%) among grooms’ wedding band metals; silver isn’t among them.
Where silver makes sense:
- As a proposal ring. If you’re proposing to him and don’t know his size, a silver ring keeps the cost low while you find out. An adjustable ring takes out most of the guesswork, and he can choose the lifelong band later.
- When it won’t become the wedding band. If he plans to retire it or move it to the right hand, it doesn’t need to survive decades of daily wear.
- As a trial. Aide-mémoire suggests silver as a way to try a band’s fit and dimensions before paying for a pricier ring, as our guide to silver wedding bands notes.
Where it doesn’t: if the engagement ring will become his wedding band and he’ll wear it every day for decades, choose gold or platinum, as the same guide advises; our comparison of sterling silver vs. white gold explains why. Whatever the metal, a sized band is the sturdier choice for one ring worn on one finger every day. Mind resizing, too: tungsten, ceramic, and cobalt “generally can’t be resized,” Jewelers Mutual warns, while a jeweler can usually take a sterling band one to two sizes either way, as our guide to resizing a silver ring explains. If he’ll stack it with a wedding band, buy the two to match in metal and width.
Proposing to a man with a ring
Women rarely propose in the US, though most Americans say it’s fine. In a 2014 AP-WE tv poll, three-fourths of Americans said it would be fine for the woman to propose “in theory,” yet only about 5% of married people said the woman had, according to an Associated Press report on CBS News. In The Knot’s 2019 Jewelry & Engagement Study, 7% of couples opted for a dual proposal, in which both partners propose.
- Get his size quietly. Measure a ring he already wears and adjust for the finger, as our guide to finding his ring size without him knowing explains, or choose an adjustable ring.
- Think ahead to the wedding band. If his engagement ring will become his wedding band, choose a metal and width he’ll be happy to wear every day.
- Engrave it. A date, initials, or a few words inside the band make it his; our guide to what to engrave on a gift for him has ideas.
- Or propose back. Some women answer a proposal with a ring of his own; JCK describes Propose Too as embracing “women proposing first and women proposing back.”
FAQ
Do men wear engagement rings?
Some do. In the US it’s uncommon: 5% of grooms wore one in The Knot’s 2011 study, the most recent count for grooms overall that we found. In Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and several other countries, both partners traditionally wear one.
Which hand does a man wear an engagement ring on?
In the US, usually the left ring finger, where his wedding band will go. In Chile, Argentina, and Brazil it traditionally goes on the right hand until the wedding.
What is a man’s engagement ring called?
Usually just a men’s engagement ring. Jewelers and the press have also called it a “man-gagement” or “mangagement” ring since at least 2011.
Does a man wear his engagement ring after the wedding?
If he wants to. He can stack it with the wedding band, move it to his right hand, wear it as his wedding band, or retire it. Decide before you buy the wedding band.
Can a woman propose to a man with a ring?
Yes. In a 2014 poll, three-fourths of Americans said it’s fine for a woman to propose, though only about 5% of married people said she did. A ring is optional; some couples choose a pendant or another gift instead.
Is a promise ring the same as a man’s engagement ring?
No. A promise ring marks a commitment without a proposal; an engagement ring comes with one. Our promise ring guide covers the difference.
Can a man’s engagement ring be silver?
Yes, but it’s an unusual choice. GIA notes that sterling is rarely used for engagement rings or wedding bands, and it scratches and dents more easily than gold or platinum. It suits a proposal ring, or a ring he won’t wear every day for decades.
How much does a man’s engagement ring cost?
We found no reliable average. Designer men’s engagement bands in a 2016 JCK roundup ran from $455 to $15,998, and The Knot’s 2015 study put the average spend on a groom’s wedding band at $558.
Bottom line
Men’s engagement rings are still uncommon in the US, and the best count, 5% of grooms, is from 2011. Elsewhere they are traditional: in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, and other countries, both partners wear one, often a plain band. In the US, a man usually wears it on his left ring finger. Decide before the wedding whether he’ll stack it, move it, make it his wedding band, or retire it. Silver suits a proposal ring or a stand-in; for a ring he’ll wear every day for decades, choose gold or platinum.
From the collection
Men’s sterling silver rings by Ronatelli
Eleven handmade 925 rings, $129 to $169, from a chain-link band to a black onyx statement ring. Every one is adjustable.
Related guides
US figures follow The Knot’s 2011, 2015, and 2019 jewelry and engagement studies, TheKnot.com and Men’s Health (2012), The Knot and Q.Digital’s 2017 LGBTQ Weddings Study, YouGov (November 2023), and the AP-WE tv poll as reported by CBS News (2014). Trade history and styles follow JCK (2016, 2018 to 2022) and the BBC (2011). Country customs follow JCK, Den Store Danske, David’s Bridal, The Independent (2017), and Wikipedia’s articles on engagement and on engagement rings in Swedish. Wearing advice follows Vogue, David’s Bridal, and Jewelers Mutual; metal advice follows GIA (2015) and Jewelers Mutual. All were checked on October 31, 2026. Read our editorial policy.
