Quite a lot of confusion about the naming of medals on here.
Since British campaign medals were first issued after Waterloo, they have almost always been named, the major exception being the campaign stars and medals for WW2 which were issued unnamed, except those issued to South Africans and Australians. Current and recent campaign medals for Afghanistan, Northern Ireland etc are of course named. NATO and UN medals follow the pattern of most foreign medals, in that they are unnamed. Long Service medals of all types are always named, including the Air Efficiency Award. Gallantry Medals were unusual in that prior to the John Major reforms in the 90's, those awarded to officers (MC, DFC etc) were unnamed, whereas the equivalent awarded to other ranks (MM, DFM etc) were named. I have not seen a recently issued gallantry medal, but I assume the MCs, DFCs etc which are now available to all ranks remain unnamed (clarification welcomed from anyone who has one).
Incidentally it is incorrect to describe the naming as engraved, details are in fact impressed by machine. A medal with obviously engraved naming is usually a fake, or a renamed medal, and regarded with grave suspicion by the collector!
Last edited by Tankertrashnav; 23rd Jun 2010 at 08:59.