A name in Arabic letters is counted by abjad, the old order of the alphabet: alif is 1, bāʾ 2, and so on through the tens and the hundreds to ghayn, 1000. Persian’s four added letters take the value of the letters they came from.
The number of a name
What number does your name carry?
Every letter has a value, and a name is their sum. Write a name as it is written in its own script, and read the number it has carried since it was given.
How a name is counted
A name in Latin letters is counted by the Pythagorean table: the letters are numbered 1 to 9 in rounds, so A, J and S are 1, B, K and T are 2. Accents do not change a letter’s value.
The values are added, and the digits of the total are added again until a single digit is left. That digit is the name’s number.
The nine numbers
1 · The Initiator
Your name opens doors that others wait in front of. You begin things, and people gather around what you begin. The work of this number is to start cleanly and to finish what it starts.
2 · The Companion
Your name is heard best beside another. You sense what a room needs before anyone says it, and you bring two sides to one table. The work of this number is to choose when choosing is due.
3 · The Voice
Your name wants to be said aloud. Words, colour and laughter come easily to you, and people remember how you said a thing. The work of this number is to finish one song before starting the next.
4 · The Builder
Your name lays stone on stone. You keep your word and you keep your hours, and what you build is still standing years later. The work of this number is to leave a window open in the wall.
5 · The Traveller
Your name does not sit still. Change finds you early and you meet it gladly; roads, languages and trades open to you. The work of this number is to carry one thing all the way across.
6 · The Keeper
Your name is a house with a light on. People bring you their troubles and leave lighter; beauty and order follow you. The work of this number is to be cared for as well as it cares.
7 · The Seeker
Your name asks the question under the question. You need quiet, you read what is not written, and you trust what you have tested yourself. The work of this number is to bring back what it finds.
8 · The Steward
Your name carries weight and can bear it. You see how things are run, and means gather where you put your hand. The work of this number is to use its strength for more than itself.
9 · The Giver
Your name closes circles. You feel for people you have never met, and you finish what a whole line before you began. The work of this number is to let go of what is complete.