What is gematria?
Gematria is a system of assigning numeric values to letters so that words and phrases yield a number. It originated in Hebrew tradition and has been adapted to the Latin alphabet for English gematria. This calculator supports two popular English ciphers: a standard mapping that mirrors the Hebrew structure (A–I = 1–9, J–R = 10–90, S–Z = 100–800), and a simple ordinal cipher (A=1, B=2 … Z=26).
How to use it
Type any word, name, or phrase, choose a cipher, and read the total. Only the 26 English letters contribute to the value — spaces, digits, and punctuation are ignored. Case does not matter, since everything is converted to uppercase first.
The formula explained
Each letter c has an index i from 0 (A) to 25 (Z). In the standard cipher: if \(i \le 8\) the value is \(i+1\); if \(9 \le i \le 17\) the value is \(10\times(i-8)\); otherwise it is \(100\times(i-17)\). The ordinal cipher simply uses \(i+1\). The result is the sum of all letter values.
$$\text{Value} = \sum_{\text{letter} \in \text{Text}} v(\text{letter}), \quad v = \begin{cases} i & \text{A--I } (i=1..9) \\ 10\,(i-8) & \text{J--R } (10..90) \\ 100\,(i-17) & \text{S--Z } (100..800) \end{cases}$$
Worked example
For "HELLO" in standard gematria: H=8, E=5, L=30, L=30, O=60. The sum is \(8+5+30+30+60 = 133\), across 5 letters. In ordinal: H=8, E=5, L=12, L=12, O=15 \(\rightarrow 52\).
FAQ
Why does L equal 30? L is the 12th letter (index 11), which falls in the tens band: \(10\times(11-8) = 30\).
Are spaces counted? No. Only letters A–Z add to the value; everything else is skipped.
Is this the only gematria system? No — there are many ciphers. This tool implements two of the most common English mappings.
