Numerology

The claim is conditional: if the new total suits your birth numbers, the name will work better for you. There is no way to check it, because working better is never defined, and stories of success pick out the people it seemed to suit. No controlled study supports it. If a spelling pleases you, use it in a place that is easy to reverse. It matters only to the extent that you decide it does.

Only for reasons you would still be glad of without the numbers: a name you dislike, a spelling that is always mispronounced, a family wish. A legal change touches every record you hold, so weigh the effort honestly, and take care if the idea comes from a fear that your name is wrong. Narayani does not push anyone toward a change.

Two tables are in common use. The Chaldean table is built on letter sounds and is the one most Indian sources apply to names. The Pythagorean table follows the alphabet and dominates Western books. Supporters of each have their reasons, but no test shows either to be more accurate. A name conversation can work in either or both, with the working shown, so the totals can be compared. Ask which table anyone is using, and why.

They do if they are part of the name you are working with, because each initial is a letter with a value. Some practitioners count the initial as written, and others work with the name it stands for. In parts of India, especially the south, an initial often stands for a father’s name or a native place, so it helps to work both versions and see whether the total changes.

Three things usually explain it. They may have used different tables, Chaldean for one and Pythagorean for the other. They may have read different names, such as the birth name and the name in use. Or one may have reduced each word first while the other added every letter at once, which changes the compound but never the root. Ask each person for the table, the name and the route.