Basics

Pick The Phrase

Any phrase has words hidden within its letters. Most phrases contain terms that actually describe it. That is the fun of lexagrams and anagrams – finding words hidden within the letters of another term which make a short phrase descriptive of the original.

Most often this is done with personal names but it also works with other terms.

  • Personal Names, like John Smith
  • Business Names, like Microsoft Incorporated
  • Sports teams, such as Los Angeles Raiders
  • Birth dates, anniversaries, or special times, like March Twelfth Nineteen Twenty
  • Mottos or short phrases, such as Seize The Day

Selecting the best term, however, may be challenging. The source phrase itself must be accurate and definite. It should represent, as best as possible, the specific person, place, or thing being lexagrammed.

How to Choose a Name

Looking at a person’s name is a common starting point. Making a descriptive lexagram statement or an anagram of JOHN SMITH can be easy but to which of the  thousands of John Smith’s in the world would it apply?

The source phrase can be clarified by adding middle names, nicknames, honorifics and other details that help to identify a specific person.

  • JOHN JACOB SMITH
  • JOHN “LUCKY” SMITH
  • DOCTOR JOHN SMITH
  • JOHN SMITH JUNIOR

These options give more definition to the specific person being discussed. A common name like JOHN SMITH can easily become the very personalized term MISTER JOHN “BUD” JACOB SMITH, which is a much more accurate way to represent that man. This level of detail is not always needed but remember that these options exist.

Names change as people grow. A birth name is different from a married name. A proper personal name is not the same as a diminutive or a nickname. Honorifics change with marriage or professional status. The choice of which name to examine is based on exploring who that person is at a particular time of their life. A prime example of this is the variations of Jane Goodall’s name.

  • Birth Name: Valerie Jane Morris-Goodall.
  • Married Name: Jane van Lawick-Goodall. 
  • Titled Married Name: Baroness Jane van Lawick-Goodall.
  • Professional Name: Doctor Jane Morris Goodall. 
  • Titled Post-Marriage Name: Dame Jane Morris Goodall

These variations do not include any college or workplace nicknames or any diminutive terms used during her childhood. The permutations may seem almost endless.

Which name is best for which circumstance?

How to Choose a Business Name or Team Name

Just as a personal name can benefit from the descriptive helper words around it, so can the names of businesses, schools, teams or the title of any other group.

Classification, location, industry

The company name BIZZINESS can be aided with other words that include its classification, its location or its industry.

  • BIZZINESS, LLC or BIZZINESS, INCORPORATED
  • BIZZINESS IN ROCKFORD or CALIFORNIA BIZZINESS
  • BIZZINESS ELECTRONICS or CRAFTS BIZINESS

One name to consider would be BIZZINESS ADVERTISING, TOLEDO.

Note: At what point do you use LLC or Limited Liability Corporation? When are abbreviations needed for clarity and when are they just too wordy?
Which name is best for which circumstance?
The same adjectives can apply to the name of a sports team or other group. ARROWS can become…

  • MIAMI ARROWS
  • ARROWS LITTLE LEAGUE
  • ARROWS BASEBALL

One possible name to examine would be MIAMI ARROWS LITTLE LEAGUE BASEBALL.

How to Choose a Date

Even though special dates like birthdays or anniversaries are expressed in numbers, they can still be examined for hidden words. Convert the date into it’s spoken equivalent and write it down to examine the letters within that phrase.

For a celebration on Tuesday, January 12, 2015, consider ways to vary the words for each part of the date.

  • Day of the Week, like TUE or TUESDAY. 
  • Month of the Year, like JAN or JANUARY
  • Day of the Month, like TWELVE or TWELFTH
  • Name of the Year, like TWENTY FIFTEEN or TWO THOUSAND FIFTEEN, or NINETEEN SEVENTY FIVE.

The date January 12, 2015 could be expressed as TUESDAY THE TWELFTH OF JANUARY TWENTY FIFTEEN. 

Worst practice. Writing out the name of a date is not the only way to examine it. In theory, one could look at January 12, 2015 as ONE TWELVE TWENTY FIFTEEN, or if one is in Europe it could be TWELVE ONE TWENTY FIFTEEN. Both will give the same results but both will be equally confusing.

Best practice when making lexagrams is to avoid abbreviations in source phrases. Using TUE for the day name or MAR for a month name is not appropriate. One should spell out the full name: TUESDAY or MARCH. It is also good advice to use the ordinal form of a number rather than the cardinal format. One should write out FIRST, THIRD, or FOURTEENTH instead of ONE, THREE, or FOURTEEN.
Is the year TWO THOUSAND ONE or TWO THOUSAND AND ONE?

Which name is best for which circumstance? TWENTY NINETEEN is the same lexigrammically as NINETEEN TWENTY. Should it be TWO THOUSAND NINETEEN? It is the only inversion, barring 1820 – 2018, 1720 – 2017, etc. How much of a difference will this make? Does history repeat itself in any ways between Today in 2019 and Today in 1920?

How to Choose a Phrase

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Which name is best for which circumstance?