Chinese Name Score
Enter a surname and given name for a total score from the five grids, three talents, birth-chart useful elements and tones.
What is Chinese Name Score and what is it used for?
This feng shui name calculator scores one complete Chinese name already chosen; it does not invent candidates. Enter the surname, the given name without the surname, the gender and the date and time of birth, and the result shows four things: a total score, a breakdown of the four parts that make it up, the five grids and three talents read grid by grid, and the four pillars with the useful and adverse elements for that birth moment. The same name with the same birth data scores the same whenever it is submitted.
Strokes are counted by the received Kangxi form, and the grids are sums of those counts. The count is not the everyday simplified one: it follows the headword form in the Kangxi Dictionary, which each character can be checked against on the Kangxi Stroke Lookup page, and some radicals carry a fixed rule, the water radical counting as four and the grass radical as six. Heaven takes the surname strokes plus one for a single surname, or the two strokes added for a compound surname. Person takes the last surname character plus the first of the given name. Earth takes the given name strokes plus one for a one-character name, or the two added for a two-character name. Total is the sum of every stroke. Outer follows its own rule by name length and is always 2 for a single-character surname with a single-character given name. Each grid number is looked up in the 81-number table and rated good, fair or poor.
The three talents look only at the last digit of Heaven, Person and Earth. The digit sets an element: 1 and 2 Wood, 3 and 4 Fire, 5 and 6 Earth, 7 and 8 Metal, 9 and 0 Water. The three elements in a row are matched against the traditional 35 auspicious combinations; inside the table reads auspicious, outside reads weak.
The useful elements come from the birth time. The browser casts the four pillars from the solar date and time and picks the useful elements, on the same calendar rules as the BaZi Chart page: with a birth city entered, the longitude corrects the clock to true solar time; without one, clock time is used. Four parts are weighted into the score: how far the name characters match the useful elements counts 0.4, the grid numbers count 0.3 (Person, Earth and Total carry more weight than Heaven and Outer), the three talents count 0.2 and the tones count 0.1. On tones, distinct readings score highest, a heavy share of the fourth tone is deducted, and a fourth tone on the last character is deducted again.
The score is what this set of traditional number rules computes. It carries no personal life phases and does not judge how a name works in daily use; two people with the same surname and the same given name get the same score. A rare or variant character missing from the Kangxi library cannot be scored and the page says so.
FAQ
Which stroke count does the scoring use?
The Kangxi count. Heaven, Person, Earth, Outer and Total are all sums of stroke counts, so each character is counted by its received form in the Kangxi Dictionary, often a few strokes above the everyday simplified writing, and some radicals carry a fixed rule. A character missing from that library cannot be scored.
Why does the same name score differently for another birth time?
The part weighted 0.4 is how far the name characters match the useful elements, and the useful elements are picked from the four pillars cast from the birth year, month, day, hour and minute, with a true-solar-time correction when a city is entered. Change the birth moment and the useful elements may change, so that part moves. The five grids and the three talents read strokes only and stay the same.
Is the birth city required?
No. Without a city the useful elements are picked from clock time; with one, the city longitude corrects the moment to true solar time. For births far west or near a date line, the correction can shift the hour pillar across a two-hour boundary, and the element set comes out different.
Does a high score mean the name is good?
It reports where the name stands on four things only: grid numbers, the three-talent combination, fit with the useful elements, and tones. It carries no personal fortune and is not the only standard for naming. Two people with the same surname and given name get the same score.
Why can a character in the name not be scored?
That character is not in the Kangxi library, usually a rare form or a variant. The page names which character has no stroke count. Confirm it first on the Kangxi Stroke Lookup page, or try another spelling.
