Love Calculator

Type in two names and this gives you a compatibility percentage. It is a party trick, and it is worth being straight about why.

What it actually does

The two names are lowercased, trimmed, and sorted alphabetically, then joined together into one string. That string is run through a small hash function, the kind normally used to spread values evenly across a lookup table, and the result is reduced to a number from 1 to 100.

score = |hash(sorted names)| mod 100 + 1

That is the whole method. There is no astrology, no numerology, no data about anyone.

Two properties worth knowing

It is deterministic. The same two names always give the same number, today and next year, on your phone and on your friend’s. Nothing is random and nothing is stored.

It is symmetric, because the names are sorted before hashing. “Alex and Jordan” and “Jordan and Alex” produce the same score, which is more than you can say for a lot of these things.

What the score means

Nothing. A hash function is designed to scatter its inputs as evenly as possible, so the digits it produces are as good as random with respect to anything about the people involved. Change one letter and the number leaps somewhere else entirely. Try it: the difference between “Sam” and “Samuel” is total.

That is also what makes it fun. The number is stable, so you cannot reroll it until you like it, and everyone who tries the same pair gets the same answer.

A more useful frame

The things that predict whether a relationship lasts are boring and well studied: how couples handle conflict, whether they can repair after a fight, whether each takes the other’s complaints seriously rather than defensively. None of that is in a name. If you want a number to think about, count how many disagreements this month ended with both of you feeling heard.

Enjoy the percentage. Do not plan anything around it.