How the love calculator works

If you ever scribbled two names on the back of a notebook and counted letters to see whether a crush liked you back, you already know how this works. The love calculator runs the classic playground name games properly, shows every step of the working, and gives the same answer every time for the same two names.

Type your first name and theirs, press calculate, and you get three readings.

The LOVES method (the big number)

This is the one most people remember. You count how many times each letter of the word LOVES appears in both names together. That gives you a row of five numbers. Then you add each pair of neighbors to make a new, shorter row, keeping only the last digit whenever a sum reaches ten or more. You keep going until two digits are left, and those two digits are your percentage.

Here is a worked example with the names Sam and Alex:

That row is 1 0 0 1 1. Adding neighbors gives 1 0 1 2, then 1 1 3, then 2 4. So Sam and Alex come out at 24 percent, which is exactly why nobody should let a notebook decide their love life. The calculator shows you this full triangle of numbers for your own names, so you can check it by hand.

The TRUE LOVE method

The second classic. Count how many times the letters T, R, U and E appear across both names, then count L, O, V and E. Put the two totals side by side and that is the percentage. If a total runs past nine, its digits get added together to bring it back to a single number, which is how most people played it at school.

FLAMES

FLAMES is the game that does not give a percentage at all. You write both names, cross out every letter the two names share, and count the letters that are left. Then you count around the word F-L-A-M-E-S, crossing out whichever letter you land on and starting again from the next one, until only one letter survives.

• F is Friends
• L is Lovers
• A is Affection
• M is Marriage
• E is Enemies
• S is Sweethearts (some schools say Siblings, which is less fun)

Why the answer never changes

A lot of online love calculators quietly generate a random number, so you can press the button three times and get three different results. That is not how the real games work, and it is not how this one works.

Every method here is based purely on the letters in the two names. Type the same names and you always get the same result. Swap the order, so your name goes second, and you still get the same result, because every method counts both names together. If you want a different number, you will have to fall for someone with more V's in their name.

Tips for playing

• Use first names. That is how the games were traditionally played. Adding surnames changes the letter counts, and you are welcome to try it, but the original rule is first names only.
• Try nicknames. Does "Katherine" score differently from "Kate"? It usually does, and it is a fun argument to have.
• Play it at a party. Go around the room and calculate every couple. Then calculate the people who are definitely not a couple. That is where the laughs are.
• Share the result. After you calculate, the page address includes both names, so the share button sends your friend straight to your exact result.

What the percentage really means

Nothing, in the most loving way possible. Letter counting cannot know whether two people make each other laugh, share the same values, or can survive a road trip together. A 12 percent couple can be married for sixty years, and a 99 percent couple can break up over how to load the dishwasher.

What a love calculator is good for is a moment of fun and a reason to say someone's name out loud. If you want tools that actually get the two of you talking about how you fit together, try the Love Language Quiz, the Compatibility Test, or Zodiac Compatibility.

A full worked example: Elliot and Tessa

Sam and Alex show the LOVES method, but it is more fun to watch one pair go through all three games, because the games often disagree. Here is what the calculator does with Elliot and Tessa.

LOVES

Across both names there are two L's, one O, no V, two E's and two S's. The triangle builds up like this:

That gives 79 percent, which lands in the "Sparks are flying" band. Not bad at all.

TRUE LOVE

The letters of TRUE appear four times in total (two T's and two E's), and the letters of LOVE appear five times (two L's, one O and two E's). Put the 4 next to the 5 and you get 45 percent. Notice that the E's are counted twice, once for TRUE and once for LOVE, because the letter belongs to both words.

FLAMES

Elliot and Tessa share an E and a T, so those get crossed out of each name. Elliot is left with L, L, I and O, and Tessa is left with S, S and A. That is seven letters. Counting seven around F-L-A-M-E-S and crossing out as you go leaves the letter E, which stands for Enemies.

So the same couple scores 79 percent, 45 percent and Enemies all at once. If anyone ever tells you these games are a serious science, this is the example to show them.

How the FLAMES countdown works, step by step

The crossing-out part of FLAMES trips people up, so here is Sam and Alex again, this time played in full.

1. Cross out shared letters. Sam and Alex share one A. Take one A out of each name. Sam leaves S and M, and Alex leaves L, E and X. That is five letters.
2. First round. Count five letters starting at F: F, L, A, M, E. Cross out E.
3. Second round. Start counting from the letter after the one you just crossed out, which is S, and wrap around to the front when you reach the end: S, F, L, A, M. Cross out M.
4. Keep going. The next rounds knock out S, then L, then A.
5. The survivor. F is the only letter left, so Sam and Alex are Friends.

Each shared letter is crossed out only once per match. If one name has two E's and the other has one, only one pair cancels and the extra E stays in the count. The calculator does the countdown for you and shows how many letters were left, so you can double-check it on paper.

Because the result depends only on how many letters are left, you can make yourself a cheat sheet:

If the two names use exactly the same letters, nothing is left to count, and the calculator shows a question mark instead of a letter, with a note that your names use the exact same letters. That happens when you type the same name twice, and also with anagram names like Amy and May.

What each score band means

The big percentage at the top comes from the LOVES method, and it comes with a short label. These are the bands the calculator uses:

Every label comes with a playful line underneath. Even the lowest one ends on a cheerful note, because letters really do not get a vote.

Little quirks worth knowing

• The score never hits zero. If the LOVES triangle or the TRUE LOVE count comes out at zero, the calculator shows 1 percent instead. Anna and Nan, for example, share none of the letters L, O, V, E or S, so they get the smallest possible score.
• Single-digit scores happen. If the last row of the triangle starts with a zero, the result is a single digit. Chris paired with another Chris ends on 0 and 2, which makes 2 percent.
• Only letters count. Capital letters, spaces, hyphens, numbers and emoji are ignored, and accented letters are treated as their plain versions, so Zoë and Zoe give the same answer. Each box takes up to 40 characters.
• Short nicknames change everything. Kate and James score 27 percent and come out as Friends. Katherine and James score 30 percent and come out as Lovers, and their TRUE LOVE number jumps from 32 to 53. A few extra letters can move every result.
• The three games are independent. A high LOVES number does not mean a good FLAMES letter, as Elliot and Tessa proved above. That is part of the fun.

Where these name games come from

Nobody invented these games in a lab. They were passed from friend to friend on school buses, in the margins of homework and on the inside covers of notebooks, which is why every school seems to have its own slightly different rules. FLAMES in particular turns up in many countries, sometimes with different words for the letters. The version here uses the most common set of meanings and the most common way of counting around the word.

What all the games share is that they only need a pencil and two names. That is a big part of their charm. You did not need anyone's permission, and the answer felt a little secret. This calculator keeps that spirit and simply saves you the paper.

Ways to play on a date or at a party

• Predict, then press. Before you calculate, each of you writes down a guess for the LOVES percentage and the FLAMES letter. Closest guess wins a small prize of your choosing, like picking dessert.
• Nickname tournament. Try every version of both your names: full names, short names, pet names, even your childhood nicknames. Crown the combination with the highest score as your official couple name for the night.
• Celebrity round. At a party, pair each guest with a famous crush and read out the results. The worse the score, the bigger the laugh.
• Old flames. If you are both good sports, try your names with the names of your first crushes from school. It makes for a very funny walk down memory lane.
• Add it to a game night. Use it as a quick warm-up before something with a little more to it, like the Newlywed Game, or see our list of couple games for more ideas.

Turning the number into a real conversation

Once the laughing stops, a silly score can lead somewhere sweet. Try asking each other a few follow-up questions. What was your first impression of me? When did you first think of us as a couple? Which of my nicknames do you secretly like best? None of these have anything to do with letter counts, and that is exactly the point. The calculator gets you talking, and the conversation is where the good stuff happens.

Frequently asked questions