FLAMES Calculator

What is FLAMES?

FLAMES is a love game that almost every school kid in India has played on the back page of a notebook. You write your name and your crush's name, cut the letters they share, count what's left and use that number to land on one of six words: Friends, Love, Affection, Marriage, Enemy or Siblings. It takes a minute, it's a little silly and it always gets a reaction. That's the whole point.

Our FLAMES calculator does the same thing you'd do with a pen, just faster and with the crossing-out animated so you can follow every step. It doesn't pretend to be astrology. It's a game, and a good one to send to friends.

How the FLAMES calculation works

Here's exactly what happens behind the scenes, so you can check it by hand if you like.

Step 1: Remove the common letters

Both names are written in lowercase with spaces and symbols removed. For every letter in the first name, we look for the same letter in the second name. If we find it, both are crossed out. Each letter can only be crossed out once, so if the first name has two A's and the second has one, only one pair is removed.

Step 2: Count what's left

Add up the letters that weren't crossed out in both names. Say that number is 7.

Step 3: Count through F-L-A-M-E-S

Write F L A M E S in a row. Start at F and count 7 letters, going round in a circle when you reach S. The letter you land on is removed. Then you keep counting 7 from the next letter, remove where you land, and repeat until only one letter is left. That last letter is your result.

Example with "Rahul" and "Priya": the shared letters are r and a, so both pairs are crossed out. Left over: h, u, l from Rahul and p, i, y from Priya, which is 6 letters. Counting 6 through FLAMES removes S first, then F, A, L and E, leaving M. FLAMES says Marriage.

Does the order of names matter?

A little. The count of leftover letters stays the same whichever name you type first, so the result is the same too. What can change the result is spelling. "Mohammed" and "Mohammad" give different counts, so use the spelling you both actually use. Nicknames are fair game, and many people try both the full name and the nickname.

What if all letters cancel?

If two names use exactly the same letters, nothing is left to count. In most school versions that's read as Friends, and we do the same. It happens more often with short names, like "Ria" and "Air".

Why people still love FLAMES

Part of it is nostalgia. Part of it is that it's a safe way to bring up a crush: "I played FLAMES with our names, look what it said". And it's quick enough to play with every friend in the group. The verdict is random enough to be funny and fixed enough that it always gives the same answer for the same names, which makes it feel like it means something.

FLAMES vs a real compatibility check

FLAMES is a letter game. It knows nothing about your personalities, your birth charts or how you treat each other. If you want something with a bit more depth, try our love calculator, which gives a full set of fun scores, or name compatibility, which compares the numerology numbers of both names. For marriage, Indian families usually look at kundli matching, which compares both birth charts across 36 gunas.

Tips for playing

• Use first names only, or full names, but be consistent when comparing results.
• Try your name with your best friend's too. Getting "Siblings" with your best friend is always a good laugh.
• Got "Enemy"? Try the nickname. Everyone does.
• Share the result link: it opens the game and plays your names again, so they can watch the letters cross out themselves.