How does periodic table spelling work?

Type any word and the speller breaks it into a sequence of element symbols. For example, 'JOE' becomes Iodine + Oxygen + Erbium (I + O + Er, but Joe spells as J — which has no element — so the speller flags untranslatable letters). Names like 'PAUL' work cleanly: Phosphorus + Astatine + Uranium + Lithium (P + At + U + Li).

Why can't every word be spelled?

Only 26 letters appear as the first letter of an element symbol, and only some letter combinations exist as valid two-letter symbols (Cu, Fe, Ag, Au, etc.). Letters J and Q never start an element symbol, so any word containing them can't be fully translated. The speller highlights untranslatable letters.

Are the symbols clickable?

Yes — each tile shows the element's atomic number, name, and category (metal, noble gas, halogen, etc.). The full periodic table view colour-codes elements by category.

What's the longest word that can be spelled in elements?

Quite long, since two-letter symbols give the algorithm a lot of flexibility. 'ScIeNcEs' spells out using Scandium + Iodine + Nitrogen + Carbon + Einsteinium + Sulfur. The speller's auto-segmenter finds a valid split when one exists; common phrases up to ~20 letters work.

Can I share my name as element tiles?

Yes — the share button generates a static image of your name in tiled form. The URL also encodes the input so deep-linking works.

Periodic Speller — Spell Your Name with Chem Symbols ⚛️

How it works

Each letter or pair of letters is matched against the 118 element symbols from the periodic table. The algorithm tries two-letter symbols first (like He , Li , Ac ) then falls back to single-letter ones ( B , C , N , etc.). If a full decomposition can't be found, unmatched letters appear as clickable gray tiles — click one to create a custom fake element. Its symbol can be several letters, so Rt is one tile for R and T.

Create Custom Element

Periodic Table of Elements