Analyzing compatibility...
Compatibility
Results are generated by a hash of the names and are for entertainment only.
Type two names and the Love Calculator returns a compatibility percentage between 0 and 100 plus a playful verdict. Under the hood it is a deterministic hash, not a personality test: the same pair of names always gets the same score, in any order. It is built as a party toy, and the page states that plainly.
How the Score Is Generated
The two names go through three steps before any scoring happens. First they are normalized: leading and trailing spaces are removed, runs of internal whitespace collapse to a single space, and all letters are lowercased. Second, the normalized names are sorted alphabetically so that order cannot matter. Third, the sorted pair is joined with a heart character and hashed with FNV-1a, a fast 32-bit string hash.
The final percentage is that hash value modulo 101, which yields an integer from 0 to 100. Because FNV-1a mixes every character into every bit, changing a single letter rewrites the entire hash, and therefore can shift the percentage by any amount. That is why two spellings that look close can land in very different bands.
What Counts as a Name Here
The tool does not judge whether the text in the boxes is a real name. It accepts any string up to 60 characters in each field and only rejects empty input. That has a few consequences worth knowing.
Whitespace is normalized aggressively. Leading and trailing spaces vanish and internal runs collapse to one space, so padded and internal spacing never changes a score. Punctuation, digits, and symbols are not stripped, so Alice, Alice!, and Alice1 produce three different hashes and three different percentages. Accented letters matter as well: Jose and Jose with an accent are distinct inputs, because the accent changes a code unit. Emoji are accepted too, and because FNV-1a hashes UTF-16 code units, one emoji contributes two units rather than one.
Because both fields are required and capped at 60 characters, the tool cannot be used as a general hash of a long sentence, and it will never silently ignore an empty box. If you want to see how a small edit moves the number, change one letter at a time and recalculate; each variation is stable, so results can be compared side by side without worrying that a rerun will change them.
How to Use
- Enter a name in each of the two fields. The inputs accept up to 60 characters and both are required.
- Press Calculate or hit Enter in either field. A progress bar runs for about 1.5 seconds; this animation is cosmetic and does not affect the score.
- Read the percentage in the circle and the message beneath it, which is selected by the score band.
- Press Try Again to clear the result and keep the same names, or edit either field and recalculate.
If either field is empty, the tool shows an error instead of scoring, since there is no string to hash.
Worked Examples
Every value below is reproducible; the same inputs will always produce the same output.
| Names entered | Normalized, sorted | Score | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alice + Bob | alice, bob | 5 | lowest (0-20) |
| Romeo + Juliet | juliet, romeo | 26 | low (21-40) |
| John + Jane | jane, john | 29 | low (21-40) |
| Taylor + Jordan | jordan, taylor | 43 | medium (41-60) |
| Alice + Bobby | alice, bobby | 57 | medium (41-60) |
| Alice + Robert | alice, robert | 71 | high (61-80) |
| Sam + Alex | alex, sam | 75 | high (61-80) |
The last three rows are the interesting ones. Adding one letter to Bob moves the score from 5 to 57; changing that letter to an r moves it again to 71. Nothing about the people changed, which is exactly the point.
What the Five Bands Mean
| Score | Message band |
|---|---|
| 0-20 | lowest band |
| 21-40 | low band |
| 41-60 | middle band |
| 61-80 | high band |
| 81-100 | highest band |
The bands exist only to pick a line of text. A score of 81 is not 81 percent of anything, and it is not measured against a baseline. It is one bucket of a hash.
Why the Result Is Meaningless (and That Is the Point)
A hash is a fingerprint, not a measurement. It tells you that two strings are identical; it says nothing about the people behind those strings. The output is spread across 0-100 by the modulo operation, not by any data about affection, compatibility, or longevity. Long-married couples can score in the lowest band and total strangers can score in the highest, because the number is derived only from spelling. Honest framing matters here: this page produces entertainment, and it should never be shown to someone as evidence about a relationship.
Good Ways to Use It
- Party and classroom icebreaker: pass a phone around and compare scores for a laugh.
- Group chats and livestreams: let viewers submit pairs and react to the results in real time.
- Greeting cards and Valentine’s messages: add a deliberately silly percentage for comic effect.
- Teaching moment: it is a compact demonstration of deterministic hashing, normalization, and why two inputs that differ by one byte produce unrelated outputs.
Related Tools
Frequently Asked Questions
What algorithm turns two names into a percentage?
The calculator normalizes both names (trim, collapse spaces, lowercase), sorts them so order does not matter, joins them with a heart character, and runs the string through the 32-bit FNV-1a hash. The hash is then reduced with modulo 101 into a whole number from 0 to 100. There is no compatibility model beyond that arithmetic.
Why does swapping the two names not change the score?
Before hashing, the two normalized names are sorted alphabetically, so Alice plus Bob produces exactly the same input string as Bob plus Alice. The result is order-independent by design, and you can verify it by swapping the fields and recalculating.
Do capitalization and extra spaces change my result?
No. Each name is trimmed, internal runs of whitespace are collapsed to one space, and letters are lowercased before hashing. Alice, ALICE, and padded lowercase alice all normalize to the same string and score identically. Punctuation and digits are kept as-is and will change the hash.
Why did changing one letter change the score so dramatically?
FNV-1a is an avalanche-style hash: one changed character alters the whole 32-bit value, which can move the modulo-101 result by any amount. Alice plus Bob scores 5 while Alice plus Bobby scores 57 and Alice plus Robert scores 71. Small spelling changes are not small score changes.
What do the five score bands mean?
The bands are decorative labels: 0-20 is the lowest message, 21-40 low, 41-60 medium, 61-80 high, and 81-100 the highest. They do not correspond to any measured trait or outcome; they simply choose which playful message appears next to the percentage.
Should anyone treat the percentage as real relationship advice?
No. The score comes from a hash of two name strings and has no psychological, statistical, or predictive basis. It cannot know anything about the people involved. Use it as a party game or icebreaker only, and keep serious relationship conversations away from the number.
Reviewed by the HandyTools Hub team · Last updated