Famous Words & Name Examples

Hebrew Standard examples

These are some of the most frequently cited words in traditional Hebrew (Mispar Hechrachi) gematria study:

• אהבה ("ahavah," love) = 1+5+2+5 = 13. אחד ("echad," one) = 1+8+4 = 13: the shared value behind the well-known teaching that "love is oneness."
• חי ("chai," life) = 8+10 = 18: the source of the Jewish custom of giving charitable donations in multiples of 18 ("giving chai").
• שלום ("shalom," peace/wholeness) = 300+30+6+40 = 376.
• תורה ("Torah") = 400+6+200+5 = 611.
• קבלה ("Kabbalah," tradition/reception) = 100+2+30+5 = 137.
• אלהים ("Elohim," a Hebrew name for God) = 1+30+5+10+40 = 86. הטבע ("HaTeva," "the nature") = 5+9+2+70 = 86 too: a well-known Kabbalistic teaching pairs these two words on the strength of this shared value.

Biblical Hebrew names in English Ordinal

Switching to English Ordinal (A=1...Z=26) and calculating the English spellings of well-known biblical names turns up its own set of matches:

• "sarah" = S(19)+A(1)+R(18)+A(1)+H(8) = 47. "john" = J(10)+O(15)+H(8)+N(14) = 47. "rachel" = R(18)+A(1)+C(3)+H(8)+E(5)+L(12) = 47: three unrelated biblical names, one shared English Ordinal total.
• "moses" = M(13)+O(15)+S(19)+E(5)+S(19) = 71. "samuel" = S(19)+A(1)+M(13)+U(21)+E(5)+L(12) = 71.
• "abraham" = A(1)+B(2)+R(18)+A(1)+H(8)+A(1)+M(13) = 44: the same total as the everyday English words "hope" and "faith" (see below).

English word pairs that share a value

English Ordinal turns up plenty of coincidental matches between everyday words: the kind of pattern that draws people into exploring gematria in the first place:

• "hope" (44) = "faith" (44) = "abraham" (44).
• "love" (54) = "sun" (54).
• "secret" (70) = "courage" (70).
• "truth" (87) = "justice" (87).
• "gematria" (74) = "jesus" (74).

More Hebrew Standard examples

A few more frequently referenced values from Hebrew gematria study:

• חסד ("chesed," lovingkindness) = 8+60+4 = 72: a number connected in Kabbalistic tradition to the concept of the seventy-two triplet Names.
• אמת ("emet," truth) = 1+40+400 = 441: notably, removing the first letter leaves מת ("met," dead), a wordplay often cited in Jewish folklore about the golem legend.
• חכמה ("chochmah," wisdom) = 8+20+40+5 = 73.

The same words in Reduction and Sumerian

The English Ordinal matches above look different once you switch ciphers: which is exactly the point of having more than one method. Using the Reduction and Sumerian tables:

• "truth": Ordinal 87, Reduction 24, Sumerian 522.
• "justice": Ordinal 87, Reduction 24, Sumerian 522: the Ordinal match between "truth" and "justice" holds exactly in both Reduction and Sumerian too, since both ciphers are direct transformations of the Ordinal value.
• "hope": Ordinal 44, Reduction 26, Sumerian 264.
• "love": Ordinal 54, Reduction 18, Sumerian 324.

How to read a shared value

A shared gematria total between two words is a mathematical fact, not proof of a deeper connection: it is exactly as likely as two words happening to have the same letter count or the same number of vowels. What gematria study traditionally does with a match like this is treat it as a starting point for reflection, not a conclusion: does the shared number between "truth" and "justice," or between three different biblical names, suggest anything worth thinking about? That interpretation is left entirely to the person doing the calculating: this calculator's job is only to get the arithmetic right, every time, and show its work. See the gematria methods page for the exact letter-value tables behind every example above, or use the gematria calculator to try your own name, a favorite word, or a phrase that matters to you.