In name numerology every letter stands for a number, and three letters of a name are read on their own: the first letter, the last letter and the first vowel. The first letter is called the cornerstone. It is taken to show how a person approaches things, the instinctive first move when something new begins. This page explains how the method works and where its limits are, and the table lists each letter with its number. Each letter has its own page.

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Every letter and its number

Pythagorean number: the letter's place in the alphabet, reduced. Chaldean number: the older system, by sound.

Cornerstone, Capstone and First Vowel

Numerologists who work with names start from the whole name, which gives the Expression number, and then look at single letters in particular positions. The first letter of the first name is the cornerstone, the way into things: whether someone meets a new situation with action, caution, charm or questions. The last letter is the capstone and describes the other end, how a person finishes what was started and how they leave. The first vowel is read as something more private, the reaction that comes before it is edited for other people. A name such as Maria has M as its cornerstone, A as its capstone and A again as its first vowel; in Stephen the three are S, N and E. The letter pages here take each position in turn.

How a Letter Gets Its Number

The system used on this site is the Pythagorean one, the most common in Europe and the Americas. The alphabet is written out in order and numbered, and any number above 9 is reduced by adding its digits. A is the 1st letter and stands for 1. J is the 10th, and 1 plus 0 is 1 again; S is the 19th, 1 plus 9 makes 10 and 10 reduces to 1. So A, J and S share a number, as do B, K and T, and so on through nine groups. The older Chaldean system assigns the values differently, by sound and not by position, never uses 9 for a letter and gives some letters a different number: S is 3 there, not 1. The two systems should not be mixed in one reading. Every letter page gives both values and says which one the description follows.

Three Letters, One Number: Why A, J and S Are Not the Same

If A, J and S all reduce to 1, why are there three pages? Because the tradition distinguishes them by how far along the alphabet they sit. A is 1 in its plain form. J reaches 1 through 10 and S through 19, and the numbers passed on the way colour the result: J is described as the more thoughtful and fair-minded 1, S as the more emotional and changeable one. Letters are also sorted into four planes, the mental, the physical, the emotional and the intuitive, according to how they are said to act. A and J are mental letters, S an emotional one. These distinctions are the reason a first letter can be described more exactly than a single digit allows, and they are also where different authors disagree most.

How Much Weight One Letter Can Carry

It is worth being plain about what this is. Name numerology is a symbolic tradition, not a tested science, and no study has shown that the first letter of a name shapes a character. What psychology has found is narrower and rather charming: the name-letter effect, first reported by Jozef Nuttin in 1985, in which people tend to like the letters of their own name, and especially their initials, a little more than other letters. That is a fact about attachment to one's name, not about destiny. Within numerology itself the cornerstone is a small part of a reading. The full name, the vowels and consonants taken separately and the birth date all count for more, and a description built on one letter is best read as a prompt for reflection.

Which Name to Use

Tradition takes the full name as it was recorded at birth for the main numbers, on the grounds that it is the one a person did not choose. For the cornerstone most numerologists are less strict and read the first name people actually use, since that is the one spoken aloud every day. A nickname or a name taken later is read as a second layer on top of the first, not as a replacement: Elizabeth who has always been Liz has both an E and an L to consider. Accents and diacritics are dropped, so É counts as E. Double first names are read by their first letter, and a change of surname does not affect the cornerstone at all.

Frequently asked

What does the first letter of my name mean?

In numerology it is the cornerstone, read as your natural way of starting things and meeting new situations. Its meaning comes from the number the letter stands for and from the letter's own place in the alphabet.

Which letters share the same number?

In the Pythagorean system: A, J, S are 1; B, K, T are 2; C, L, U are 3; D, M, V are 4; E, N, W are 5; F, O, X are 6; G, P, Y are 7; H, Q, Z are 8; I and R are 9.

Does a nickname change the reading?

It adds to it. The birth name is used for the main numbers, and the name you go by every day gives a second cornerstone that is read alongside the first.

Is there scientific evidence for this?

No. Numerology is a symbolic tradition. Research does show that people tend to prefer the letters of their own names, which is called the name-letter effect, but that is a different claim.

First letters, one by one