Type in any word or name above to see if it's possible to spell it using chemical element symbols.
For example, the following names can be written using chemical element symbols: Alice, Bob, Bruce, Eric, Iris, Lawrence, Lindsey, Stacy and Stephen. Check if yours can too!
Out of all 118 chemical elements, only 15 can be spelled using element symbols: Carbon, Neon, Silicon, Phosphorus, Iron, Copper, Arsenic, Krypton, Silver, Tin, Xenon, Bismuth, Astatine, Tennessine and Oganesson.
Most element names (83 of them) end with um and they can't be written in symbols. However, even if the element named after him (Copernicium) can't be written using symbols, Nicolaus Copernicus can be written using chemical element symbols in no fewer than 48 different ways.
Not that many words in the English language contain um, but you'll notice it's still fairly hard to spell words using chemical element symbols. Why is that? It's largely because the three most common letters in English (E, A and R) don't have their own single-letter symbols. This means they need to have the right neighboring letters to be written using chemical element symbols. Some examples that work are near, fear, rear, insurance, parents, paper and wrapper.
The only two letters not found in any chemical element symbol are
31 countries (their English names) can be written using chemical element symbols: Argentina, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrain, Belarus, Benin, Bhutan, Burundi, Cameroon, China, Cuba, Cyprus, Finland, France, Gabon, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Kiribati, Monaco, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, Pakistan, Palau, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, Spain and Ukraine.
Out of the 50 US states, only four can be spelled with symbols: Montana, Ohio, Utah and Wisconsin.