Search around and the reaction to name-based love calculators is pretty consistent: everyone knows they're not real science. Most sites lean into a mysterious percentage from an undisclosed formula anyway. This one does the opposite — it's the classic FLAMES paper game (Friends, Lovers, Affection, Marriage, Enemies, Siblings) that's been played by hand for decades, reproduced exactly as an algorithm with every step visible.
FLAMES game calculator, the actual steps
Matching letters between the two names cancel out one pair at a time, and the calculator shows exactly how many letters remain — the same "cross out the matches" process from the paper version, just done instantly.
Name compatibility calculator, F-L-A-M-E-S counted out
The remaining letter count is used to eliminate F, L, A, M, E, S one at a time in a circular count (the same elimination logic as the classic "count-out" game), until one letter — and one result — remains.
Friends, Lovers, Affection, Marriage, Enemies, or Siblings
Those are the six traditional outcomes, and that's genuinely all it is — a party game, not a prediction. The page says so directly rather than dressing it up as anything more.
