# How do they engrave new names on existing headstones? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 30, 2004, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-engrave-new-names-on-existing-headstones/237399 "2004-03-30T21:24:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-engrave-new-names-on-existing-headstones/237399/22 "2017-01-10T07:03:06Z")
> [@jackas](#): > > Cremations, burials, evictions, exhumations, dealing with partial remains, babies/children, overweight deceased, casket specifications/restrictions etc. Death is a fascinating industry once you’re removed from the emotional side of things. Sure is. Would you consider starting an ‘Ask the…’ thread in the IMHO forum? I’d be interested to read and participate. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-engrave-new-names-on-existing-headstones/237399/23 "2017-01-10T07:38:39Z")
Interesting thing I noticed a week or two back. I was in the UK and was looking for the graves of Princhester ancestors. Working my way through the relevant graveyards I noticed that the very old headstones were often illegible because the engraving had flaked and pitted away, but usually _only if it was on the northern side_. Presumably because that was the damp side, where moss and lichen grew, eating away the stone. Engraving on the southern side that got the sun would often be totally legible, even if equally old and on the same type of stone. Moral of the story: if you want your loved one’s headstone to be legible in 300 years, make sure the engraving faces the equator. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-engrave-new-names-on-existing-headstones/237399/24 "2017-01-10T08:08:39Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Presumably because that was the damp side, where moss and lichen grew, eating away the stone. Possibly also frost spalling. West-facing surfaces are supposedly the most protected against that though (because they warm up in the evening and don’t get a shock change of temperature the following sunrise) ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-engrave-new-names-on-existing-headstones/237399/25 "2017-01-10T08:47:51Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Moral of the story: if you want your loved one’s headstone to be legible in 300 years, make sure the engraving faces the equator. And make sure you’re not buried in Norway where 300 year old graves are rare, since cemetery space is expensive and reused for anyone not famous or having descendants paying the upkeep fee. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-engrave-new-names-on-existing-headstones/237399/26 "2017-01-10T16:33:49Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > This isn’t completely related but still somewhat applicable. My grandfather died suddenly when he was 55 and was buried in a very nice section of a cemetery that my family owns. For some reason that I will never understand, they had my grandmother’s headstone erected right next to his with partial engraving (leaving only the date of death off) even though they never really liked one another. The problem was that the engravers were overly ambitious and decided to go ahead and drill the beginning digits of the year into her headstone even though she wasn’t very old. > > That’s right, we ran into a Y2K problem with an expensive piece of granite because the year already said 19 something and she didn’t die until 2009 when she was 86. It didn’t matter much much in the end. My grandmother decided to be cremated and wasn’t buried at all. However, as far as I know, her headstone is still erected in a cemetery in East Texas partially filled just like it has always been since I was 7 years old. It always made cemetery visitations to see my grandfather’s grave with her present more than a little awkward. I remember my grandfather being quite irritated that when he purchased his headstone, he had his name and my grandmother’s engraved along with their date of birth, but the mason refused to put the “19” in the date of death. “I’ll never live to 2000, those damn fools” he’d say. Being born in 1903 and his wife in 1900, that was a pretty safe bet but they still wouldn’t carve the “19” in there. As it turned out, neither made it to 1990, but we never had to worry about Y2K headstone issues. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-they-engrave-new-names-on-existing-headstones/237399.md?page=1)