Many people come to this website with a simple query: how long is a pen? Here is our best take on an answer to this deceptively simple question.
“When asking how long is a pen?” we’d counter that by asking, in turn, “Which pen do you mean?” Maybe you’d then say, “A normal pen…” and the conversation would go in circles for a few more minutes, but in an effort to avoid this exact conversation, we’ll do what we can go get ahead of all possible variations on this question.
The Actual Lengths Of Popular Pens
While averages are nice, you might want to know how long some popular pens actually are. Here is that data for you:
- Bic Cristal (capped): 14.7 cm
- Bic Gelocity: 14.7 cm
- Bic Grip Roller (capped): 13.7 cm
- Bic Velocity: 14.6 cm
- Fisher Space Pen CH4: 13.4 cm
- Hauser XO: 14.4 cm
- Parker Jotter: 12.3 cm
- Pentel Sign Pen (capped): 13.3 cm
- Pilot Acroball M: 14.3 cm
- Pilot Razor Point: 13.5 cm
- Platinum Preppy Fountain Pen: 13.8 cm
- Reynolds 045 Ballpoint: 14.8 cm
- Sakura Gelly Roll (capped): 15.3 cm
- Sakura Pigma Micron (capped): 13.5 cm
- Sharpie S-Gel: 14.5 cm
- Uni-ball Eye rollerball: 13.8 cm
Average Length Of A Capped Pen
We reviewed the 1500 most popular pens in the Unsharpen.com database and found the following facts:
- The average length of a capped or retracted pen (basically a pen in its resting state) is 13.94 centimeters or 5.49 inches.
- The median length of a pen is 13.9 cm.
- The most popular length (the mode) is also 13.9 cm.
Some of the pens we have listed at 13.9 cm include:
- Uni-ball Jetstream
- Lamy Safari fountain pen (capped)
- Twsbi Eco fountain pen (capped)
The Actual Length Uncapped Pens
If by the “length of a pen” you mean the pen itself without the cap then we will be talking about shorter lengths. Uncapped pen lengths include:
- Bic Cristal: 14.4 cm
- Hauser XO: 14.0 cm
- Lamy Safari with 14k nib: 12.9 cm
- Parker 50 Falcon fountain pen: 12.5 cm
- Platinum Preppy fountain pen: 12.2 cm
- Reynolds 045: 14.3 cm
- Sakura Gelly Roll: 14.8 cm
- Schneider One Business Rollerball: 13.0 cm
- Staedtler Stick 430: 13.1 cm
- Twsbi Eco: 13.1 cm
- Uni-ball Eye rollerball: 12.6 cm
Average Length Of An Uncapped Pen
We reviewed the 1500+ pens in our database and found the following data points:
- The average length of an uncapped pen is 12.88 cm
- The median length of an uncapped pen is 12.8 cm
- The most popular length of an uncapped pen is 12.4 cm
Some pens that are 12.4 cm long include:
So it’s popular length, but not the length of popular pens!