Name Numerology: Expression, Soul Urge and Personality
A name is the first thing you were given and the word you have heard most often in your life. Three numbers are folded into it, and each one answers a different question.
In Izmir a child’s name was whispered into its ear three times before anyone else heard it. My grandmother said a name was a coat: someone else picks it out, and you spend your life growing into it or altering it.
Numerology takes that coat apart at the seams. Every letter has a value, and the letters of your name add up to three numbers. One shows what you are able to do. One shows what you want when nobody is watching. One shows what people see when you walk into a room.
You can calculate all three by hand in five minutes. Below is the letter chart, one name worked through from first letter to last, and the rules for the awkward cases: the letter Y, accents, and names that were never written in Latin letters to begin with.
The three numbers in your name
Where the life path number comes from your date of birth, these three come from letters alone.
The expression number uses every letter. It describes your abilities and the way you act in the world, which is why some books call it the destiny number.
The soul number uses only the vowels. English books usually call it the soul urge or the heart’s desire. Vowels are the breath in a name, the part you can sing, and they stand for the wish underneath your choices.
The personality number uses only the consonants. Consonants are the outline of a word, the part you can still read when the vowels are taken out. This number is your front door: the first impression, the manner, the coat itself.
If you know astrology, the three behave a little like the big three of sun, moon and rising sign. One for what you do, one for what you need, one for how you appear.
The Pythagorean letter chart
The system I use, and the one the FalciDilara app uses, is called Pythagorean. It is very simple. You run through the alphabet and count from 1 to 9, and when you reach 9 you start again at 1.
- 1: A, J, S
- 2: B, K, T
- 3: C, L, U
- 4: D, M, V
- 5: E, N, W
- 6: F, O, X
- 7: G, P, Y
- 8: H, Q, Z
- 9: I, R
There is a second, older chart called Chaldean, which gives the letters different values and never uses the 9. Both are traditions, neither is proven. What matters is that you stay with one chart and do not mix them, or the numbers stop meaning anything.
A worked example
Take the name Selin Aydın.
First write the value under each letter. The Turkish ı without a dot counts as I.
- Selin: S 1, E 5, L 3, I 9, N 5
- Aydın: A 1, Y 7, D 4, I 9, N 5
Expression number, all letters. 1 + 5 + 3 + 9 + 5 = 23 for the first name, 1 + 7 + 4 + 9 + 5 = 26 for the surname. Together 49. Reduce: 4 + 9 = 13, then 1 + 3 = 4. The expression number is 4.
Soul number, vowels only. E 5, I 9, A 1, I 9. That is 24, and 2 + 4 = 6. The soul number is 6. The Y is not counted here, for a reason I explain in the next section.
Personality number, consonants only. S 1, L 3, N 5, Y 7, D 4, N 5. That is 25, and 2 + 5 = 7. The personality number is 7.
A quick check: vowels and consonants together must equal all letters. 24 + 25 = 49. If your two partial sums do not add up to the total, a letter went missing.
So this is someone who can build and organise (4), who at heart wants to look after people (6), and who comes across as quiet and thoughtful (7). Three different numbers, which is the usual case. A person is seldom one thing.
Two rules about reducing. All letters of the whole name are added first, and the reduction happens only at the end. And as with the life path, 11 and 22 are not reduced. If a sum is 29, you stop at 11.
Y, accents and special letters
The letter Y is the old quarrel. Is it a vowel or a consonant? The rule I follow is the most widespread one and it needs no dictionary: Y is a vowel when no vowel stands directly beside it. In Lynn the Y carries the sound alone, so it is a vowel and goes into the soul number. In Yvonne it does too. In Yasemin and in Aydın an A stands next to it and does the singing, so the Y is a consonant and goes into the personality number.
Accents and marks are dropped and the base letter is counted. Ç is C, ş is S, ğ is G, ü is U, ö is O, ñ is N, é is E. So Peña is counted as P, E, N, A: 7 + 5 + 5 + 1 = 18, and 1 + 8 = 9.
Letters of their own need a decision. The dotless Turkish ı and the dotted capital İ both count as I, so Işık is 9 + 1 + 9 + 2 = 21, which makes 3. The German ß counts as two S, so Weiß is W, E, I, S, S: 5 + 5 + 9 + 1 + 1 = 21, also a 3. Æ becomes A and E, ø becomes O.
Spaces, hyphens and apostrophes are ignored. Anne-Marie and Anne Marie give the same numbers.
Which name to use
Tradition says: the full name as it was written at your birth, with every middle name. That name is read as the plan you arrived with, and it does not change when you marry or adopt a stage name.
I use both. The birth name shows what you were given. The name you are called today, the one on your door and in your friends’ phones, shows who you have become. If you have been Kate for thirty years and nobody has said Katherine since your christening, the numbers of Kate are worth reading. When the two sets differ strongly, that difference tells a story of its own.
The app calculates with the name in your profile and shows you which name it used, so you can try your birth name and your everyday name one after the other and compare.
One piece of advice from many conversations: do not change your name to chase a better number. There are no better numbers. A name you chose because you love the sound of it will serve you more than one built to hit an 8.
Names in Arabic and other scripts
Here I have to be honest about a limit. The Pythagorean chart is built on the Latin alphabet. A name written in Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew or Chinese characters has no value in it. The app will not invent one. If your name contains no Latin letters, it shows no name numbers and tells you so.
You can use the Latin spelling in your passport, or the spelling you use yourself every day. But know that transliteration is a choice, and the choice changes the result. Yusuf adds up to 20 and gives a 2. Youssef adds up to 29 and gives an 11. Same man, same name in Arabic, two different numbers. Use the spelling you actually sign with, and treat the result as a reading of that spelling.
Arabic has its own letter tradition, the abjad system, in which each of the 28 letters has a value from 1 to 1000. It is a different method with a different history, and its numbers cannot be compared with the ones here.
What the numbers mean in a name
The digits mean the same as in the life path, but each role bends them a little. Read the line that belongs to the role you calculated.
1
As expression: you work best when you lead or work alone. As soul: you want independence more than comfort. As personality: people see confidence, sometimes before you feel it.
2
As expression: a gift for cooperation, diplomacy and detail. As soul: you want closeness and peace. As personality: you seem gentle and approachable, and people tell you their secrets.
3
As expression: talent with words, images, performance. As soul: you want to be heard and to enjoy yourself. As personality: you seem cheerful and easy to talk to, even on days when you are not.
4
As expression: you organise, build and finish. As soul: you want order and solid ground. As personality: you seem reliable and a little reserved.
5
As expression: quick, versatile, good at selling an idea. As soul: you want freedom and variety. As personality: you seem lively and a bit restless, the one who knows the new place in town.
6
As expression: you teach, heal, host and take responsibility. As soul: you want a home and people to care for. As personality: you seem warm, and people expect you to look after them.
7
As expression: research, analysis, a specialist’s depth. As soul: you want truth and time alone. As personality: you seem quiet and hard to read.
8
As expression: you manage, decide and handle resources. As soul: you want to achieve something visible. As personality: you seem strong and capable, sometimes intimidating.
9
As expression: a broad view, a talent for work that serves many. As soul: you want to give and to make things better. As personality: you seem generous and a little far away.
11
As expression: you inspire, and you sense what a room needs. As soul: you want meaning, not just success. As personality: you seem intense and unusual. More on this in the master numbers.
22
As expression: the ability to realise something large and lasting. As soul: you want to leave something built behind you. As personality: you seem competent in a way that makes people hand you the difficult task.
A name does not change, but the year around it does. Where you stand right now is shown by your personal year. All my pieces on numbers are collected under numerology.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate my name number?
Give each letter its value from the Pythagorean chart, add all letters of your full name and reduce the total to one digit, keeping 11 and 22. That is the expression number. Do the same with only the vowels for the soul number and only the consonants for the personality number.
What is the difference between expression number and soul urge number?
The expression number counts every letter and describes what you are capable of. The soul urge number counts only the vowels and describes what you long for. Many people have a capable expression number pulling one way and a soul number that wants something else, and it helps to know both.
Is Y a vowel or a consonant in numerology?
It depends on its neighbours. When no vowel stands directly next to it, as in Lynn, Y is a vowel. When a vowel stands beside it, as in Yasemin, it is a consonant. Other schools decide by sound, so results can differ from book to book.
Should I use my birth name or my married name?
By tradition the full birth name, because it is read as what you started with. Your current name shows who you are now. Calculate both and compare them. Neither is wrong.
Can I calculate name numerology for an Arabic name?
Only through a spelling in Latin letters, and different spellings give different numbers. Use the spelling in your passport or the one you write every day. The Arabic abjad system is a separate tradition with its own values.
Does changing my name change my numbers?
The numbers of the new name are different, yes. Tradition says the birth name keeps its meaning underneath, like a first coat of paint. I would not change a name for the sake of a number.