Love Calculator (LOVES and FLAMES)
Two classic schoolyard name games, done properly and with every step shown. It is a game, not a test of anything, and the method below shows exactly why.
For entertainment and self-reflection: These are letter-counting games. The result depends only on the spelling of two names and says nothing about a real relationship. Nothing on this page is a prediction, and it is not financial, medical, psychological or legal advice. Use it as a prompt for thought, not as a basis for decisions.
Try the name games
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How the LOVES game works
Write the two names together and count how many times each letter of the word LOVES appears: the number of Ls, Os, Vs, Es and Ss. That gives a row of five numbers. Then add each neighbouring pair to make a shorter row, and keep going until only two digits are left. Those two digits, side by side, are the "percentage". If any sum reaches 10 or more, we add its digits together (so 12 becomes 3), which keeps every step to a single digit.
Because the counting uses both names together, the order does not matter: "Romeo and Juliet" and "Juliet and Romeo" give the same score. The result can be anything from 0% to 99%.
How the FLAMES game works
FLAMES is a classic playground game, especially well known in South and Southeast Asia. Write both names, then cross out letters they share, one for one: if both names contain an E, cross out one E from each. Count the letters that are left. Then write out F L A M E S, which stands for Friends, Love, Affection, Marriage, Enemies and Siblings, and count around the word using that number, crossing out the letter you land on. Start counting again from the next letter, wrapping around, until only one is left. That letter is the "relationship".
Different schools played with slightly different words for the letters (A is sometimes Adore or Admirer, S is sometimes Sweetheart), and some versions remove all shared letters rather than one for one. We use the one-for-one rule and the meanings above, and show which letters were crossed out so you can check the counting by hand.
Worked example: Romeo and Juliet
LOVES. ROMEOJULIET has one L, two Os, no V, two Es and no S, giving the row 1, 2, 0, 2, 0. Adding neighbours gives 3, 2, 2, 2. Again gives 5, 4, 4. Again gives 9, 8. So the LOVES score is 98%, about as high as the game goes.
FLAMES. Romeo and Juliet share one letter, E. Crossing one E out of each leaves ROMO (4 letters) and JULIT (5 letters): 9 in total. Counting 9 around FLAMES lands on A, which is crossed out. Counting 9 again from M lands on F, then on L, then on S, then on M. The last letter standing is E: Enemies. Anyone who knows how the play ends will appreciate the irony, and it shows nicely that the two games can disagree completely, because neither measures anything real.
Love tests through history
People have always liked little rituals that seem to answer the question "do they love me?". The best known is pulling petals off a daisy while saying "he loves me, he loves me not", a game known in France as effeuiller la marguerite and found across much of Europe for centuries. Folk customs once used apple peel thrown over the shoulder to show the initial of a future spouse, or a cake baked with a ring inside. Paper "fortune tellers" folded by children ask the same questions. Name-counting games such as LOVES, TRUE LOVE and FLAMES spread in schoolyards in the twentieth century and moved online in the early days of the web, where "love calculators" became a popular kind of novelty page.
Online love calculators usually do not show their method. Some use a fixed formula, some use a hash of the names, and some are simply random. We think it is more fun, and more honest, to show the game’s rules so you can see exactly what produced the number.
What actually predicts a happy relationship
If the numbers have you curious about the real thing, relationship research has much more to say than letter counts. Long-running studies of couples by psychologist John Gottman and colleagues found that how partners handle disagreement matters a great deal; in stable relationships, couples showed many more positive interactions (interest, humour, affection, appreciation) than negative ones, even during conflict, a ratio Gottman famously put at about five to one. Respect, kindness, responsiveness to each other’s bids for attention, and the ability to repair after an argument all matter. None of that depends on how a name is spelled.
A little maths behind the games
The FLAMES elimination is a small case of a well-known puzzle. In the "Josephus problem", people stand in a circle and every k-th person is removed until one remains; mathematicians have studied which position survives for every circle size and step. FLAMES is a circle of six with a step equal to the number of leftover letters, so the outcome depends only on that number. Any two pairs of names that leave the same count of letters get the same answer, and because the six-letter circle repeats, so do many different counts.
LOVES behaves differently. Its adding-neighbours rule is similar to building one row of Pascal’s triangle, so the middle letters (O, V and E) feed into the final digits several times while the outer ones (L and S) feed in only once. Before the digit-reducing step, the first digit is L + 3O + 3V + E and the second is O + 3V + 3E + S. Because sums of 10 or more wrap around, a higher count does not always mean a higher score, which is one more reason to treat the result as a game. It is fun to test with your own names.
Ways to enjoy it
- As an icebreaker. Try it with friends, then check the working together and see who can do FLAMES fastest by hand.
- For famous couples. Literary and historical pairs make good test cases, and the mismatch between score and story is half the fun.
- As a kids’ maths game. LOVES is a neat exercise in counting and adding, and FLAMES is a small version of the famous "Josephus problem" in mathematics.
- Not as advice. Please do not take a low score, or "Enemies", to heart. It is a spelling game.
Frequently asked questions
Is the love calculator accurate?
No. It is a letter-counting game. The score depends only on how the two names are spelled and has nothing to do with real compatibility.
How is the LOVES percentage calculated?
Count the Ls, Os, Vs, Es and Ss in both names together. Add neighbouring numbers to make a shorter row, and repeat until two digits remain. Those two digits are the percentage.
What does FLAMES stand for?
Friends, Love, Affection, Marriage, Enemies and Siblings. You remove shared letters from the two names, count what is left, and use that number to cross out letters of FLAMES until one remains.
Does the order of the names matter?
Not here. Both games use both names together, so swapping them gives the same result.
Why does another love calculator give a different result?
Most online love calculators do not publish their method, and many use a different formula or random numbers. This one shows every step of two well-known games.
Are the names stored?
No. Everything runs in your browser. The names are not saved or sent anywhere.
Sources and further reading
- Opie, I. and Opie, P. The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, Oxford University Press, 1959.
- Gottman, J. M. and Silver, N. The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, Crown, 1999.
- Gottman, J. M. What Predicts Divorce?, Lawrence Erlbaum, 1994.
- Wikipedia: "Flames (game)" and "Josephus problem".
By Stanley King · About 8calc · Last reviewed October 2026