# The Ancient Science of Numbers/Chapter 4

CHAPTER IV. PERFECT AND IMPERFECT NAMES
In selecting a name that will harmonize with the vibrations that tend towards success, happiness, and health, we must bring both the NAME NUMBER and the BIRTH NUMBER into complete concord with one of the three Triads. While the NAME NUMBER rules, standing, as it does, as the great positive force, or, as the most powerful spiritual energy in the shaping of material things, the influence of the BIRTH NUMBER, or the great negative force, is too important a factor in life to be carelessly disregarded.
In spite of the importance of these factors, however, it is by no means sufficient that they alone should be in harmony. To complete, or perfect the name, we must give due regard to three other controlling forces. These are the “Cornerstone,” the “Keystone,” and the “Capstone.”
​To define these terms in the simplest manner possible:
The Cornerstone in a name is its first, or initial letter.
The Keystone in a name is the middle letter.
The Capstone in a name is its final letter.
In the selection of a perfect name, therefore, these three forces must be taken into consideration. Thus, more than ordinary care should be exerted in the choice of the Cornerstone, for the influence of this force will be felt throughout the entire life of the individual, or object, under its vibrations. If it is in opposition to the Triad in which the BIRTH NUMBER has its place, it is certain to interfere seriously with the successful culmination of every undertaking over which that discordant number can assert an influence. The Keystone, as its name implies, bears the weight of the arch, and should, therefore, be a strong ​Material letter, while the Capstone, as the finishing, or completing force, holds the fulfillment of all the possibilities of the name.
The Cornerstone, Keystone, and Capstone apply to the first, second, and third degrees of each number, and respectively to the numbers in each Triad, as shown by the following tables, the first of which indicates their application to the Triads:
FIFTH TABLE
| Cornerstone | Keystone | Capstone |
| 1 | 5 | 7 |
| 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 3 | 6 | 9 |
Thus, 1 is the Cornerstone; 5, the Keystone; and 7, the Capstone, of the Triad of 1–5–7.
SIXTH TABLE
| Cornerstone | Keystone | Capstone |
| 1, or A | 10, or J | 100, or S. |
| 2, or B | 20, or K | 200, or T. |
| 3, or C | 30, or L | 300, or U. |
| 4, or D | 40, or M | 400, or V. |
| 5, or E | 50, or N | 500, or W. |
| 6, or F | 60, or O | 600, or X. |
| 7, or G | 70, or P | 700, or Y. |
| 8, or H | 80, or Q | 800, or Z. |
| 9, or I | 90, or R. |
| D | | a | | V | | i | | D |
| 4 | + | 1 | + | 4 | + | 9 | + | 4 | = | 22 | = | 4. |
If we find that this particular “David” has a BIRTH NUMBER that is also in the Triad of 2–4–8, the result is a combination of vibrations that could scarcely be more harmonious.
| A | | g | | N | | e | | S |
| 1 | + | 7 | + | 5 | + | 5 | + | 1 | = | 19 | = | 10 | = | 1. |
In this name we find the Cornerstone, Keystone, and Capstone are all harmonious, each being in the Name Triad of 1–5–7, but, in addition, there is no letter in the name that stands as a discord to that Triad. To make the name absolutely perfect, therefore, it is only necessary that it should stand in harmonious relation to the BIRTH NUMBER.
THE OCTAVES
At the same time, it is never advisable that the NAME and BIRTH NUMBERS should count the same, for, in such a case, the vibrations, becoming too intense, would create extremely intense conditions. The influence upon the life of the individual can best be compared to the effect that would be experienced if a player should strike an octave upon the piano, and should play it persistantly, ​leaving the rest of the harmony unexpressed. To Illustrate:
A 5 in NAME and 5 in BIRTH would live too much in the imaginative world.
A 9 In NAME and 9 In BIRTH would be too original and too nervous, for both numbers rule through the nervous organism.
A 10 in NAME and 10 in BIRTH would be too idealistic, too impractical. Such a person would suffer in business, and would probably have to be cared for eventually.
SELECTING A NAME
Of course, when we recall the many factors that must be taken into considertion in the selection of a name, it is not difficult to imagine that, under certain circumstances, the choice of a proper combination of letters would be anything but an easy matter. In other words, when we have found our BIRTH NUMBER and Its Triad, it is sometimes almost ​possible to find a name to fit it, a name that will not only agree in its own number, but also in the matter of Cornerstone, Keystone, Capstone, etc. In such an emergency, however, the remedy is always at hand, for, in the adoption of a new name, it is not necessary to conform to any custom, or to any rule of spelling, however long established. That is to say, if repeated experiments in the enumeration of names fail to discover any series of letters that will produce the desired effects, we still have the alternative of calling upon the imagination to supply the name that is wanted. Thus, if no so-called common name will meet our requirements, we, fortunately, have the privilege of “making-up” one to fit the purpose. In every case, however, the choice of such a name should not be made without serious deliberation, for it is almost as necessary that it should be in every respect pleasing to the person adopting it as it is that it should come ​within the line of attraction of other numbers.
CHANGING A NAME
As the act of changing a name is often a matter of grave consequence to the individual, it is well to remember that, while the new name will exert a greater ratio of power if adopted for all time, and in all the social and business affairs of life, it is not absolutely necessary that such a definite step should be taken. In accordance with the operation of the law of numbers, the name by which we know ourselves and the name by which we are known to other people are both of importance; yet the former, or the name by which we know ourselves, carries so much more weight than the latter, or the name by which others know us, that excellent results may be obtained if we merely change our name in our own thoughts. To do this, of course, it is absolutely necessary that we should always think of ourselves by our new name, and it is ​important that its reality should be maintained with all the force that it is possible for the mind to exert. As long as we require its influence we must think of it as a real name, just as we now think of the name that was bestowed upon us by our parents.
If we feel that we must continue to use the old name in business or social affairs, it is possible for us to do this, but only when we are more than ordinarily persistent in impressing the reality of the new name upon the mental organism. In other words, we must think of ourselves frequently by this new name. Two or three times each day we must devote at least a few minutes to concentration, with the new name as the object of our thought, for it is by wrapping ourselves in this new name, as we would mentally wrap a cloak about us, that we can secure the beneficent effects of the new and more harmonious conditions that we have aspired to attain. As the result, it is decidedly ​helpful if we can persuade several sympathetic friends to assist us by thinking of us and referring to us always by this name that we have adopted. With such help, and our own sincere meditations, this new garment in which we have clothed our being will soon become real to us. Without such a helpful influence, the desired results may be long deferred, while any failure to recognize the existence of this new name on our own part will make it impossible for the expected change to occur in any of our affairs. ***** As may easily be seen, a name, if it is to be a perfect name, must consist of an uneven number of letters. A name that possesses an even number of letters,—like Mary, John, Anne, etc.—cannot be a perfect name, for, though it may have its Cornerstone and Capstone in harmony, it lacks the forceful vibrations of the harmonious Keystone.