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Core numbers in numerology

Personality number: calculation with consonants, and meaning

The Personality number, the total of the consonants of your full name, describes how you act and see a task through to the end.

By Thomas Guilhot · updated

Calculate your Personality number

What is the Personality number?

The Personality number is about the way you act. Faced with a file to wrap up, a move to organize, or a piece of furniture to assemble, everyone has their own way: some charge ahead, others plan, still others wait until they have consulted everyone. That style of action is what this position tries to pin down.

The term comes from Fermier’s definition, for whom the consonants of the name say how a person makes real what they carry. English-language authors call this same calculation the “Personality number” too, but give it a different meaning: the impression left at first contact. Here, we stay with Fermier’s reading.

From the first name and birth surname, you keep only the letters that are not vowels. Their values follow the usual table: J and S (1); B, K and T (2); C and L (3); D, M and V (4); N and W (5); F and X (6); G and P (7); H, Q and Z (8); R (9). You add and reduce, keeping the master numbers.

For Lucie Moreau, the consonants are L and C (3 + 3 = 6), then M and R (4 + 9 = 13). The total, 19, gives 1 + 9 = 10, then 1 + 0 = 1. Her Personality number is therefore 1.

This position complements the Soul Urge number. Added together, the two give back Expression: 32 for the vowels, 19 for the consonants, 51 in all. So you can read Expression as the meeting of a desire, carried by the vowels, and a method, carried by the consonants. When Soul Urge and Personality agree, your wants turn into action without effort. When they oppose, you may long for calm and find yourself speeding everything up, or dream of adventure while moving step by step. The life path number, calculated on the date, stays apart: it describes the ground, the Personality number describes your approach on that ground.

From one school to another, a name that changes

SchoolThe consonants of the name give…
French school (Fermier, followed here)the “realization number”: how you act
Most English-language methodsthe Personality number: the image you project
Some authorselsewhere, “realization” means life path + Expression

Read also. Bridge number · Planes of expression

How to calculate your Personality number: an example

With Claire Martin, born March 14, 1987.

  1. Keep only the consonants

    CLAIRE MARTIN → C, L, R, M, R, T, N

  2. Add their values

    3 + 3 + 9 + 4 + 9 + 2 + 5 = 35

  3. Reduce

    3 + 5 = 8

C3
L3
A1
I9
R9
E5
M4
A1
R9
T2
I9
N5

358Personality number 8: ambition, making things real, mastery
Letter values: A = 1 … I = 9, then start again
123456789
ABCDEFGHI
JKLMNOPQR
STUVWXYZ

In bold on a tinted background, the vowels (Y included): they give the Soul Urge number; the consonants give the Personality number.

Why other sites sometimes find a different number

First, the name of the position does not mean the same thing everywhere: in the plural, “pinnacles” also refer to the major periods of life, drawn from the birth date, which is an entirely different notion. Then, Y sometimes moves to the consonant side, which changes the total. Finally, the name in use, the number of first names, and the fate of master numbers vary from one calculator to another. Here, we keep the consonants of the main first name and the surname received at birth, with Y counted as a vowel, following Fermier’s French school (“ABC de la numérologie”).

Common mistakes with the Personality number

  1. Filing Y among the consonants. In the method followed here, it always goes to the vowel side and does not count in the Personality number.

  2. Confusing this number with the four pinnacles drawn from the date. The Personality number comes only from the consonants of the name.

  3. Taking over as is a description of the English-language “Personality number”: the calculation is identical, but the reading points elsewhere.

  4. Neglecting the final check. The raw totals of the vowels and consonants, put together, must give back the total of all the letters.

Frequently asked questions about the Personality number

How do you calculate the Personality number?

You add the value of each consonant, leaving aside the vowels, Y included. For Paul Martin: P (7) + L (3) = 10, then M (4) + R (9) + T (2) + N (5) = 20. The total, 30, gives 3 + 0 = 3. A total of 11, 22 or 33 stays as is. Added to the sum of the vowels, this number gives back that of all the letters, hence Expression.

Is this the same as the Personality number of English-language authors?

The calculation is the same, the reading differs. English-language authors call the sum of the consonants the “Personality number” and see in it the impression given at first glance. The French tradition, with Fermier, reads rather the way of acting: how a person organizes, moves forward, finishes. That second reading is the one followed here. If you find a very different description elsewhere for the same number, the difference often comes from there.

Does the Personality number point to a career?

Not directly. It describes a way of working rather than a profession: preferring quick action or preparation, team or autonomy, detail or the big picture. Two people in the same job can have very different Personality numbers and each succeed in their own way. To think about a career direction, you cross this number with Expression, which tells the talents, and the life path number, which tells the ground.

Why do the Soul Urge and Personality numbers add up to Expression?

Because each letter of the name is either a vowel or a consonant. The vowels form the Soul Urge number, the consonants the Personality number, and together they cover all the letters, hence Expression. The check is done on the totals before reduction. For Paul Martin: 14 for the vowels, 30 for the consonants, 44 in all; reduced, 5 and 3 do give 8, like 44. If a master number is kept on one side, the equality seems wrong on the reduced digits: reason on the totals then.

Can the Personality number be 11 or 22?

Yes, and 33 too. As soon as the sum of the consonants meets one of these numbers during the reduction, it is kept: a total of 29 gives 11, a total of 22 stays 22. Since consonants outnumber vowels in most names, their sum is often high and can pass through these values. A Personality 22 is read from the 4: method and constancy, put at the service of projects of a different scale. A Personality 11 readily acts on intuition, on the basis of the 2.

Does Y count in the Personality number?

No. Here, Y is always filed among the vowels: it goes into the Soul Urge number and stays out of the Personality number. For Sylvie, the consonants kept are S, L and V, so 1 + 3 + 4 = 8; Y and its 7 points go to the vowel side. Some calculators place Y as a consonant before a vowel, which raises their Personality number by 7 and lowers their Soul Urge number by as much. If your results differ from one site to another and your name contains a Y, the cause is probably there.

Personality number and “pinnacles”: what is the difference?

They are two unrelated notions, despite the shared word in French. The Personality number, in the singular, is calculated on the consonants of the name and describes your way of acting, the same throughout life. The pinnacles, in the plural, sometimes called realization cycles or peaks, divide existence into major periods calculated from the birth date. One speaks of a way of doing, the others of successive stages. This page deals only with the number drawn from the consonants.

What is the difference between the Personality number and the life path number?

Their source first: the Personality number adds the consonants of the name, the life path number rests on the date. Their subject next: the Personality number shows how you carry out a task, the life path number, the situations that existence places before you. A life path 5 brings change; a Personality 4 faces it with method, lists in hand. Reading both together shows whether your way of acting suits the ground, or whether it needs a few adjustments.

Does the Personality number change with a married name?

No: it is calculated once and for all with the consonants recorded at birth, first name and surname. Nothing prevents you from calculating a spouse’s or stage name separately, out of curiosity. Its consonants then describe the way of acting you adopt in the setting where you carry that name, at work for example. This reading adds to the birth one as a nuance, without replacing it.

The other core numbers

  • Life path number

    Your life path number is the road your birth date traces: the circumstances that mark out your existence.

  • Expression number

    The Expression number describes your talents and the way you present yourself, based on the letters of your birth first and last name.

  • Soul Urge number

    The Soul Urge number, or soul number, describes what drives you to act: the desire of the heart, read in the vowels of the name.

  • Personal year

    The personal year gives the climate of a year within a nine-year cycle, based on your birthday and the year chosen.

  • Missing number

    A missing number is a digit from 1 to 9 absent from your name: a quality to learn, never a flaw.

  • All core numbers

    The core numbers and concepts of a numerology chart, from the date of birth to the letters of the name.