Numerology alphabet chart: number for each letter (A to Z)

Numerology alphabet chart A to Z

The number for every letter in both systems. The Chaldean value is the one most Indian numerologists use for the name number; the Pythagorean value is the one Western numerology uses.

Y is counted as a consonant by default. Some numerologists count it as a vowel when it sounds like one, as in Mythili.

Chaldean numerology chart

In the Chaldean chart the letters are grouped by their sound, so the values do not follow the order of the alphabet. The values run from 1 to 8, and no letter is given 9.

Pythagorean numerology chart

The Pythagorean chart numbers the alphabet in order from 1 to 9 and then starts again: A is 1, I is 9, J is 1 again, and so on to Z, which is 8.

The Pythagorean chart is named after the Greek thinker Pythagoras, who taught that numbers lie behind everything. The letter chart in its present form comes from Western numerology of the early twentieth century.

Chaldean vs Pythagorean: the difference in plain words

Both charts turn letters into numbers, but they come from different traditions and add up a name in different ways. The same letter can have a different number: I is 1 in Chaldean and 9 in Pythagorean.

Which one to use? If you are checking a name the way it is usually done in India, for the name number, a name correction or a business name, use the Chaldean chart. Our name numerology calculator gives the Chaldean number first and shows the Pythagorean numbers alongside as a second view. Whichever chart you use, use it every time and say which one a number comes from.

Cheiro and the Chaldean chart

Cheiro was the pen name of William John Warner (1866 to 1936), an Irish palmist and astrologer. His Cheiro’s Book of Numbers, published in London by Herbert Jenkins, made the Chaldean letter values widely known, which is why the Chaldean chart is often called Cheiro numerology. Cheiro presented the chart as an old Chaldean and Hebrew alphabet; the name points to ancient Babylon, but the chart as used today, on the English alphabet, comes from his book and the writers after him.

Read more about Cheiro numerology and compound numbers

Worked example: Kavya Joshi

Here is the name Kavya Joshi worked out letter by letter, exactly as the tool above does it.

Chaldean: the letters of the whole name add up to 28, which reduces to 28 → 10 → 1. The Chaldean name number is 1. Because 28 lies between 10 and 52, it is also read as a compound number: see Chaldean compound numbers.

Pythagorean: each word is reduced on its own (KAVYA 15 → 6, JOSHI 25 → 7), then the word results are added and reduced: 6 + 7 = 13 → 4. The Expression number is 4.

So the same name gives 1 in one chart and 4 in the other. Neither is wrong: they are two methods, which is why a number should always be read with the chart it comes from.

Check a name with the calculators

The chart gives the number of each letter. To read what a name number means and whether it suits your date of birth, use these calculators:

• Name numerology calculator: your name number in both charts, with its meaning
• Business name numerology: check a shop, firm or brand name
• Name correction: see which spellings suit your Mulank and Bhagyank
• Baby name by date of birth: naam akshar and name numbers for a newborn