R is the 18th letter of the alphabet and in numerology it stands for 9, the last of the single numbers and the one linked with compassion and completion. A first name beginning with R is read as the cornerstone of someone who feels strongly and gives generously. Robert, Rachel, Richard, Rose, Ryan and Rebecca all start with it. Only one other letter, I, shares its number, so R is among the rarer cornerstones in numerical terms even though the names are common.

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The letters that share the number 9

Ten names that begin with R, worked out

Each letter is replaced by its Pythagorean number and the numbers are added; the sum is reduced to the Expression number (11, 22 and 33 are kept).

R as the First Letter: The Cornerstone

The R cornerstone is described as deep-feeling and outward-turning at once. People whose names begin with R are said to have a rich inner life that does not stay inside: it comes out as warmth, as conviction and as a readiness to help. Numerologists call them kind-hearted, tolerant and hard-working, with an instinct for the larger picture and for people in difficulty. An R meets a new situation by asking what it means and whom it affects. The same intensity has a sharp edge. The tradition notes a quick temper, strong likes and dislikes, and a tendency to pour so much into a cause or a person that little is left over. An R who feels unappreciated is said to go quiet and then to boil. The advice given is to keep something back for oneself, and to remember that not every wrong is theirs to put right.

The Number Behind R: 9

R is the 18th letter, and 1 plus 8 is 9. In the Chaldean system, which never gives any letter the value 9, R is 2. Nine closes the series of single digits and is read as the number of the wide view: humanity, generosity, endings that make room for something else. Because the alphabet has twenty-six letters, only two of them come to 9, I as the 9th letter and R as the 18th. I is the plain form. R reaches 9 through 18, which joins the drive of 1 to the authority of 8, and is therefore described as the more forceful of the pair: an idealist who also wants results. On the planes of expression R is an emotional letter in the creative mode, in a group with I, O and Z. It acts from feeling, and it acts.

R at the End of a Name: The Capstone

Many names end in R: Peter, Alexander, Oliver, Jennifer, Esther, Victor, Arthur. The capstone describes how things are brought to a close, and with R the word used is wholehearted. Such a person is said to see a commitment through to the end out of feeling for the people involved, and to finish strongly, even grandly. They find it hard to walk away from anything they have cared about, and a parting can stay with them for years. The benefit is staying power in a good cause. The difficulty is knowing when a chapter is over, since 9 is the number of completion and an R capstone can go on giving after the giving has stopped being useful.

R Inside a Name and R Repeated

R is one of the most frequent consonants within names: Maria, Mark, Sarah, Christopher, Andrew, Laura. Every R adds a 9 to the name's numbers. In the fuller method a name with several 9s is read as belonging to a person of broad sympathies and strong emotion, and a name with neither I nor R as someone who has to learn to think beyond their own circle. A doubled R, as in Harry, Darren or Sierra, is taken as a sign of feelings that run high. It is worth noticing how different an R sounds from one language to another, rolled in Maria and scarcely heard in the English Arthur, though numerology counts the written letter and not the sound.

Strengths and Friction

The strengths credited to R names are generosity, endurance, a sense of duty and the ability to inspire others by caring openly. They are described as people who will work late for something they believe in. The friction comes from temper, from pride that is easily wounded, and from the exhaustion of those who give without limit. Handbooks often place R people in medicine, teaching, the arts, public service and any work with a purpose larger than the pay, and say they wither in jobs that seem to them pointless. The recurring advice is about measure: choose the causes, rest between them, and let other people be generous in return.

Where the Letter R Comes From

R goes back to the Phoenician letter resh, which meant head and was drawn as a head in profile. The Greeks made it rho and wrote it in a shape identical to the Latin P. The Romans, who already used that shape for another sound, added a slanting stroke beneath the bowl to tell the two apart, and that leg is the only difference between P and R to this day. Roman writers nicknamed it the dog's letter, littera canina, because its rolled sound resembled a growl. No sound in European languages varies more: it is trilled on the tongue in Spanish and Italian, made in the throat in French and German, and in much of England dropped altogether at the end of a syllable.

Frequently asked

What does it mean if your name starts with R?

In numerology R is the number 9, and as a first letter it is read as strong feeling turned outward: a kind, hard-working and generous nature with a quick temper.

What number is the letter R in numerology?

R is the 18th letter, and 18 reduces to 9. The Chaldean system gives it 2. Only I shares the number 9 with it.

Are people with R names emotional?

That is how numerology describes the letter: R is classed with the emotional letters and linked with the compassionate number 9. It is a traditional reading and not a rule about any one person.

What does R mean at the end of a name?

As a last letter R is the capstone, read as a wholehearted way of finishing: seeing commitments through, and finding it hard to let go.

Birth charts of people whose name begins with R

First letters, one by one