How it works
Two traditions read the same birth date. Each one ranks English names by how well their sound answers the chart, and every card says why.
Saju, the Four Pillars
Saju writes a birth as four pillars, for the year, month, day and hour. Each pillar is a pair of characters, a Heavenly Stem and an Earthly Branch, and each belongs to one of five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. The stem of the day pillar is the Day Master, the core of the chart.
The year changes at the Start of Spring and the month at each solar term, both worked out from the Sun's actual position. When the birth time and city are known, the time is corrected to local solar time before the day and hour pillars are read. A birth between 11 pm and midnight counts as the same day, with the hour pillar of the following day's first hour.
For Saju, the five elements are counted from the stems and the hidden stems of all four pillars, with the birth month weighted most. A name earns credit when its sounds supply an element the chart is short on, and loses a little when it adds to an element that is already plentiful.
Western astrology
The chart uses the tropical zodiac. The Sun sign comes from the date, the Moon sign from the birth time, and the rising sign from the time and the birth place. Each sign belongs to fire, earth, air or water. The Sun counts most, then the Moon and the rising sign when they are known.
For astrology, the Sun sign counts most, then the Moon and rising signs when the birth time and place are known. Each sign belongs to fire, earth, air or water. A name's sound character is rated on the same four elements, and names whose sound matches or complements the chart rank higher.
How a name's sound becomes an element
Korean name reading groups consonants into the five elements by where in the mouth they are made. We carry the same idea over to English sounds, by how a name is pronounced rather than how it is spelled. This is our adaptation, not a traditional standard.
| Element | Sounds | Made |
|---|---|---|
| Wood | K, G | Back of the throat |
| Fire | T, D, N, L, R, and the th in the | Tip of the tongue |
| Earth | Vowels, H, W, Y, and the ng in sing | Open throat, soft breath |
| Metal | S, Z, SH, CH, J, and the th in thin | Against the teeth |
| Water | M, B, P, F, V | The lips |
Sound elements follow the Korean pronunciation-element tradition, adapted to English: K and G count as wood; T, D, N, L and R as fire; vowels, H, W and Y as earth; S, Z, SH, CH and J as metal; and M, B, P, F and V as water. The first sound of a name counts double.
Ranking the names
The overall tab lists names that score well in both readings, so a name that one tradition ranks low is held back.
Parent, sibling and career details are optional. Each can add at most a small bonus and none of them can outweigh the chart itself.
Numerology uses the Pythagorean letter table and is shown for reference only. It never changes a ranking.
Where the data comes from
- Name counts: U.S. Social Security Administration birth records, 2000 to 2025. Names come from U.S. Social Security birth records since 2000. Names given to fewer than 100 babies in that time are left out.
- Pronunciations: the Carnegie Mellon University Pronouncing Dictionary, with a spelling-based estimate for names it does not list.
- Cities: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0), for the birth place, time zone and coordinates.
- Planet and solar-term positions: computed in your browser with the astronomy-engine library (MIT).
Your details stay with you
Birth time and place are used to correct for local solar time and to find the Moon and rising signs. Without them, only the parts that depend on the date are used. Everything is worked out in your browser and the answers are not sent to a server. NamesByStars is free to use, and no part of a reading is locked behind a payment.
A creative guide, with limits
NamesByStars applies Saju, Western astrology and numerology as traditions and a creative guide. They are not scientific, and nothing here predicts a person's future or replaces professional advice. The final choice of a name is yours alone.