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Fancy Letters A to Z

Fancy letters are Unicode characters that look styled, and every letter of the alphabet has dozens of versions. Choose a letter to see it in every style, tap any character to copy it, or check its code point for design and development work.

By Maya Chen, lettering designer and type educator · Checked by Jordan Hale · · How we review content

Key facts

  • Fancy letters are separate Unicode characters, not fonts: bold, script, double-struck and circled forms of A are four different characters.
  • Unicode added the mathematical alphabets in 2001 and reused older Letterlike Symbols characters where letters already existed, leaving gaps.
  • The script alphabet borrows 11 letters from the older Letterlike Symbols block, and the double-struck alphabet borrows 7.
  • Bold script, bold Fraktur, bold and sans-serif alphabets have no gaps, so they look the most consistent.
  • A code point is the number Unicode assigns to a character, written like U+1D4D0.
  • Unicode has no small-caps X, and subscript letters exist for only 17 letters.

Why does one letter have dozens of versions?

To a computer, the bold 𝐀, the script 𝒜, the double-struck 𝔸 and the circled Ⓐ are completely different characters, not one A in different fonts. Unicode encodes them separately because mathematicians, phoneticians and East Asian typesetters each needed distinct symbols:

  • Mathematics needed letter variants that mean different things: 𝐯 for a vector, ℝ for the real numbers, 𝔤 for a Lie algebra. That produced bold, italic, script, Fraktur, double-struck, sans-serif and monospace alphabets.
  • Phonetics needed small capitals (ʙ, ʀ, ɢ) and superscript letters (ʰ, ʷ) to write sounds precisely.
  • CJK typesetting needed full-width Latin letters (Ａ) that line up with Chinese and Japanese characters.
  • Enclosed letters (Ⓐ, 🅐, 🄰) came from legacy character sets used for lists and labels.

Because they’re real characters, they copy and paste anywhere. The trade-off is that search engines, screen readers and spell-checkers treat them as symbols, not letters.

Which fancy letters have gaps in Unicode?

When Unicode added the maths alphabets in 2001, some letters already existed in the Letterlike Symbols block (U+2100–214F), so Unicode left holes and reused the older characters. They’re often drawn in a slightly different style, which is why a styled word can look uneven:

Alphabet Borrowed letters
Script ℬ ℰ ℱ ℋ ℐ ℒ ℳ ℛ ℯ ℊ ℴ
Fraktur ℭ ℌ ℑ ℜ ℨ
Double-struck ℂ ℍ ℕ ℙ ℚ ℝ ℤ
Italic ℎ (the Planck constant)

Bold script, bold Fraktur, bold and sans-serif alphabets have no gaps, so they look the most consistent.

Each letter page lists exactly which of its forms are borrowed, along with its history and its handwritten cursive form.

Where should I go from here?

The Greek letters have their own section: the Greek alphabet page lists all 24 with names, sounds and Unicode. To convert whole words at once, use the lettering generator, and to turn styled text back into plain letters, use the Unstyle text tool. Pick a letter above whenever you need one of these fancy letters on its own.

Frequently asked questions

Basics

Why do some letters have fewer styles than others?
Unicode never added every letter to every alphabet. There is no small-caps X, small-caps Q and superscript q arrived too recently for most fonts, and subscript letters exist for only 17 letters. Each letter page shows only the forms that really exist, and its code-point table notes where a letter is borrowed from an older block.
What is a code point for a fancy letter?
A code point is the number Unicode assigns to a character, written like U+1D4D0. Designers and developers use code points to insert characters exactly, for example with HTML entities (𝓐) or in design software's glyph panels, and to check whether a font supports a character.
What are fancy letters?
Fancy letters are Unicode characters that already look styled, such as bold, script, Fraktur or circled forms of the alphabet. They are not a font applied to normal letters, so they copy and paste anywhere that can show them. Each one is a distinct character with its own code point.
Why are there circled and full-width letters?
Enclosed letters came from legacy character sets used for lists and labels. Full-width Latin letters were made for East Asian typesetting, so they line up with Chinese and Japanese characters. Mathematicians and phoneticians needed their own variants too, which is why the maths and phonetic alphabets exist.

Where it works

Which Unicode blocks do fancy letters come from?
Bold, italic, script, Fraktur, double-struck, sans-serif and monospace letters come from Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols, with older borrowed ones from Letterlike Symbols. Circled and squared letters are Enclosed Alphanumerics, and full-width letters sit in Halfwidth and Fullwidth Forms. Each letter page shows the exact code points.
Do fancy letters work in a username field?
Usually not. Many platforms restrict usernames to plain letters, numbers and a few symbols, so styled letters are rejected there. Display names, bios and captions are more accepting. Check each platform page for the rules for each field, and keep a plain-text version of any name you rely on.

How it works

How do I type a single fancy letter?
Open the letter's page and tap the character you want in any style. It is copied to your clipboard, ready to paste into a bio, a name field or a document. Each letter page lists every available style next to its Unicode code point. For whole words, the lettering generator converts everything at once, so you do not need to copy letters one by one.

Tips & limits

Are fancy letters good for monograms?
For digital monograms, such as profile pictures, watermarks and initials in a bio, yes: bold script, double-struck and bold Fraktur letters make striking single initials. For print, an image made with a real font gives more control. Try the Lettering Image Maker.
Why do some letters in a styled word look uneven?
Some letters were already in the older Letterlike Symbols block when the mathematical alphabets were added, so Unicode reused them and left holes. Script, Fraktur, double-struck and italic all borrow letters this way, and they are often drawn in a slightly different style from their neighbours.
Can search engines and screen readers read fancy letters?
Often not well. Search engines, screen readers and spell-checkers treat fancy letters as symbols, not letters, so a styled word may not match its plain spelling. Keep names, keywords and contact details in plain text, and use fancy letters for short decorative touches.