The symbols people put around their names, like ꧁ ꧂, ★彡 and 亗, are not decorations someone invented for Instagram. Most are real letters and punctuation marks from writing systems such as Javanese, Tibetan, Chinese, and Japanese. ꧁ and ꧂, the famous “wings”, are ornamental marks from the Javanese script used to frame text.
We looked up each popular symbol in the official Unicode character database, the list every phone and computer uses, so you can see its real name, where it comes from, and whether it might show as a box. Every symbol below is ready to copy.
Where do name symbols come from?
They come from Unicode, the standard that gives every character in every writing system a number, so text looks the same on any device. Because Unicode includes thousands of scripts, people found characters that look like wings, stars or crowns and started using them as decoration.
Knowing the source helps in two ways. You avoid using a sacred symbol by accident, and you can guess which symbols might break: characters from rarer scripts need special fonts that older phones may not have.
Wings and brackets
| Symbol | Official Unicode name | Where it comes from | Copy example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ꧁ ꧂ | Javanese left and right rerenggan | Javanese script (Indonesia); ornaments used to frame text such as titles | ꧁ Name ꧂ |
| ༺ ༻ | Tibetan mark gug rtags gyon and gyas | Tibetan script; left and right bracket marks | ꧁༺ Name ༻꧂ |
| 『 』 | Left and right white corner bracket | Japanese quotation marks | 『Name』 |
| 【 】 | Left and right black lenticular bracket | Chinese and Japanese headings | 【Name】 |
| 〖 〗 | Left and right white lenticular bracket | Chinese and Japanese, outline version | 〖Name〗 |
| 《 》 | Left and right double angle bracket | Chinese marks for book titles | 《Name》 |
| ⫷ ⫸ | Triple nested less-than and greater-than | Mathematics | ⫷ Name ⫸ |
Gaming and attitude symbols
| Symbol | Official Unicode name | Where it comes from | Copy example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 亗 | CJK unified ideograph 4E97 | A rare Chinese character, used for its sharp shape | 亗 Name 亗 |
| 彡 | CJK unified ideograph 5F61 | Chinese radical for hair or bristles, used as speed lines | ★彡 Name 彡★ |
| ♛ ♚ | Black chess queen and king | Chess pieces | ♛ Name ♛ |
| ⚔ | Crossed swords | Also the map sign for a battle site | ⚔ Name ⚔ |
| ༒ | Tibetan mark rgya gram shad | A Tibetan punctuation mark | ༒ Name ༒ |
| ⚡ | High voltage sign | Warning signs | ⚡ Name ⚡ |
| ツ | Katakana letter tu | Japanese; loved because it looks like a smiling face | Name ツ |
| ࿐ | Tibetan mark bska shog gi mgo rgyan | A Tibetan ornament mark | Name ࿐ |
| ༄ | Tibetan mark initial yig mgo mdun ma | Marks the start of a Tibetan text | ༄ Name |
| ᭄ | Balinese adeg adeg | Balinese script; a sign that removes a vowel | ᭄ Name |
Cute and aesthetic symbols
| Symbol | Official Unicode name | Where it comes from | Copy example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ✿ ❀ | Black and white florette | Printers’ ornaments (dingbats) | ✿ Name ✿ |
| ♥ ♡ | Black and white heart suit | Playing cards | ♡ Name ♡ |
| ★ ☆ | Black and white star | General symbols | ★ Name ★ |
| ✧ | White four pointed star | Dingbats | ✧ Name ✧ |
| ⋆ | Star operator | Mathematics | ⋆ Name ⋆ |
| ˚ | Ring above | A spacing accent mark | ⋆｡˚ Name ˚｡⋆ |
| ｡ | Halfwidth ideographic full stop | The Japanese full stop | ⋆｡˚ Name ˚｡⋆ |
| 𓆩 𓆪 | Egyptian hieroglyph L006 and L006A | Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs | 𓆩♡ Name ♡𓆪 |
| ᯓ | Batak letter Simalungun ra | Batak script (Sumatra, Indonesia) | ᯓ Name ᯓ |
| ꨄ | Cham letter ai | Cham script (Vietnam and Cambodia) | ꨄ Name ꨄ |
| 𖦹 | Bamum letter phase-E ngkaami | Bamum script (Cameroon) | 𖦹 Name 𖦹 |
| ☾ | Last quarter moon | Astronomy and calendars | ☾ Name |
| ❦ | Floral heart | Printers’ ornament | ❦ Name ❦ |
| ♫ | Beamed eighth notes | Music notation | ♫ Name ♫ |
| ∞ | Infinity | Mathematics | ∞ Name ∞ |
| ☯ | Yin yang | Chinese philosophy | ☯ Name ☯ |
Religious and devotional symbols
These symbols are sacred to millions of people. They are popular in names, and using them respectfully is fine; avoid pairing them with jokes, skulls or rude words.
| Symbol | Official Unicode name | Meaning | Copy example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ॐ | Devanagari Om | The sacred sound Om in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism | ॐ Name ॐ |
| ☬ | Adi Shakti | The Khanda, an emblem of Sikhism | ☬ Name ☬ |
| 🔱 | Trident emblem (emoji) | Often used for the trishul of Shiva | 🔱 Name 🔱 |
| 🪔 | Diya lamp (emoji) | The oil lamp of Diwali | 🪔 Name 🪔 |
Which name symbols might show as boxes?
Symbols from rare scripts and the newest emoji are the ones most likely to show as empty boxes, because the phone needs a font that contains them.
| Risk | Symbols | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Low: work almost everywhere | ★ ☆ ♥ ♡ ♛ ✿ ∞ ⚔ ☯ 『 』 【 】 《 》 | Common symbols included in standard system fonts |
| Medium: test first | ꧁ ꧂ ༺ ༻ 亗 彡 ツ ༒ ⋆ ˚ ｡ | Need Javanese, Tibetan or Chinese fonts, which most modern phones have |
| Higher: may break on older phones | 𓆩 𓆪 ᯓ ꨄ 𖦹 ᭄ ࿐ ༄ 🪔 | Rare scripts, or emoji added in recent years such as the diya lamp (2019) |
The safe habit: paste your decorated name into a chat with yourself first. If it looks right there, it will usually look right in your profile.
Do symbols count toward the name length?
Yes. Every symbol and every space is a character. ꧁༺ Name ༻꧂ uses 10 characters for a 4-letter name, which matters for short limits: Free Fire nicknames allow 12 characters and WhatsApp names 25. Some apps count rare symbols as two characters, so keep a margin.
The name font style generator shows the length for Instagram, WhatsApp, Free Fire and BGMI as you style your name, so you can see what fits before you copy.
Text symbols or emoji: which should I use?
Text symbols such as ★ and ♛ take the colour of the text around them and look clean in bold names. Emoji such as 👑 and 🔥 are colourful pictures. Many games and some apps remove emoji from names but allow text symbols, so for gaming names, text symbols are the safer choice.
How do I add symbols to my name?
The fastest way is to use the Left symbol and Right symbol pickers in our name font style generator; every style then shows your name with those symbols, ready to copy. You can also copy any symbol from the tables above. To learn the names of the letter styles that go between the symbols, see our font names list.
Frequently asked questions
What is ꧁꧂ called?
꧁ and ꧂ are Javanese rerenggan, ornamental marks from the Javanese script of Indonesia. In stylish names they work as decorative wings.
What does 亗 mean?
亗 is a rare Chinese character. Most people who use it in gaming names choose it only for its sharp, weapon-like shape, not for its meaning.
What is 彡 in stylish names?
彡 is a Chinese radical related to hair or bristles. Its three slanted strokes look like speed lines, so it is often paired with a star: ★彡.
Can I use name symbols in my Instagram username?
No. Instagram usernames allow only letters, numbers, periods and underscores. Put symbols in your Name field or bio instead.
Is it okay to use ॐ or ☬ in my name?
Yes, many people do, and it is fine when used respectfully. Avoid combining sacred symbols with jokes, skulls or offensive words.