Old English, gothic, blackletter, fraktur
All four names point at the same family of heavy, broken letter shapes that European scribes and early printers used. In Unicode the style is called fraktur, and it comes in two complete sets: light (๐๐๐ ) and bold (๐ฌ๐๐). The light set borrows five capitals from an older block (โญ โ โ โ โจ), so on some phones those five look slightly different from the rest.
| Style | Capitals | Lowercase | Digits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old English (gothic) | ๐๐ โญ๐๐๐๐โโ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐โ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐โจ | ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐ข๐ฃ๐ค๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐จ๐ฉ๐ช๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ท | plain |
| Bold gothic | ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ณ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ท๐ธ๐น๐บ๐ป๐ผ๐ฝ๐พ๐ฟ๐๐๐๐๐๐ | ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ | ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ |
Popular uses
- Clan and gamer names with wings or a crown: ๊ง ๐ถ๐๐๐ ๊ง
- Band, merch and tattoo ideas, to see a word in blackletter before going to an artist.
- Titles in a bio, a playlist or a story.
A tattoo artist works from a real font or their own drawing, not from these characters. Use this page to try words and spacing, then take the idea to the artist.
Readability
Blackletter capitals are hard to read in long text: keep it to a name or a short title. There are no gothic digits, so numbers stay plain in the light set and come out as bold digits in the bold set.
How these gothic fonts are made
Gothic font generator: what Unicode block each style is built from, and which letters stay plain.
| Style | Example | Built from | Letters left plain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old English (gothic) | ๐๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฑ | Mathematical Fraktur; C H I R Z come from Letterlike Symbols | none |
| Gothic mix | ๐๐๐ฑ๐๐ฆ๐ ๐ฑ๐๐ต๐ | Fraktur and bold fraktur letters, alternating | none |
| Royal | ๊งเผโฌ ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ โฌเผ๊ง | Bold fraktur inside ๊งเผโฌ โฌเผ๊ง | none |
| Medieval | วครลฆฤฆฦฦ ลฆษำพลฆ | Latin letters with strokes and bars | none |
| Runes (look-alike) | แทแแแบแแฒ แแแชแ | Runic letters picked by shape (they do not spell the word in runes) | none |
| Bold gothic with wings | ๊ง ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๊ง | Mathematical Bold Fraktur, complete, with bold digits, with wings | none |
| Gothic with crown | โ ๐๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ฑ โ | Mathematical Fraktur, decorated | none |
| Bold gothic on fire | ๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฅ | Mathematical Bold Fraktur, complete, with bold digits, on fire | none |
| Gothic spaced | ๐ ๐ฌ ๐ฑ ๐ฅ ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฑ ๐ข ๐ต ๐ฑ | Mathematical Fraktur, decorated | none |
Questions
What is the old English font called?
Fonts in this style are usually called blackletter, gothic or fraktur. In Unicode the letters on this page are Mathematical Fraktur characters.
Can I use the gothic font in Word?
You can paste these characters into Word, but for documents it is better to install a real blackletter font. These Unicode letters are for places without fonts, like bios and names.
Why do some gothic capitals look different?
C, H, I, R and Z in the light set come from an older Unicode block, so some fonts draw them in a slightly different style. Bold gothic has no such gaps.