Font explainer
Times New Roman on a headstone: what families should know
Times New Roman is one of the best-known serif font names. It comes installed on most computers and is a familiar default for documents. It’s also a font families often name when they mean “a traditional serif” for a headstone.
Closest Monumize font
Roman Serif
When a family asks for Times New Roman, they often mean "a traditional serif font that looks right on a headstone." Roman Serif (Cinzel) is a good starting point, and Newspaper Roman (Tinos) is Monumize’s closest open-licensed match to Times-style lettering. The letterforms are heavier where stone needs heavy strokes, the serifs are wider where stone needs visual anchor, and the historical lineage is the actual one — inscriptional Roman capitals rather than 1930s newspaper text.
About Times New Roman
Times New Roman was commissioned by The Times of London in 1931 specifically for newspaper body text — designed to fit more words per column inch than the previous Times Roman face, with letterforms tuned for the high-resolution metal type of newsprint printing. Stanley Morison and Victor Lardent drew the face. It was designed for paper at small sizes.
History
Times New Roman was not designed as a monument font, and many American sandblast inscriptions predate it. The conflation between "Times New Roman" and "the serif font on headstones" happens because most consumers don’t know the name "Cinzel" or "Trajan" or the dozen other inscriptional faces — they reach for the serif name they do know.
Times New Roman on a headstone
Cut at 1.5-inch cap height in granite, Times New Roman reads as visibly weaker than the inscriptional Roman faces a monument shop would cut by default. The strokes are too uniform; the serifs are too small; the contrast is set for newsprint, not for stone. The result can look thin compared with inscriptional lettering.
Frequently asked questions
- Can a monument shop cut Times New Roman?
- Many can, if they have the font licensed for that use. A shop may also suggest an inscriptional serif instead. Monumize does not offer Times New Roman itself.
- What if the existing inscription on the stone is actually in Times New Roman?
- It may be a shop’s own Roman variant that only looks similar. Monumize’s photo analysis suggests the closest of its 22 open-licensed fonts; check that suggestion against the existing lettering on your photo.
See the Monumize alternative
Roman Serif is Monumize’s closest open-licensed option to Times New Roman. Monument shops can match the lettering and see the new date outlined on a photo of the actual stone.
Font names mentioned on this page are trademarks of their respective owners. Monumize does not offer these fonts; it suggests the closest open-licensed alternative.