Where circled letters come from
These characters have been in Unicode since 1993, in the "enclosed alphanumerics" block. They were originally used to number items in Japanese and Korean technical documents, where that kind of marker is standard. Social media adopted them much later.
Circles or squares, outlined or filled
Four variants are offered. Outlined circles (Ⓐ) exist in both cases. Filled circles (🅐), squares (🄰) and filled squares (🅰) are uppercase only — so your text is automatically capitalised for those three.
Mind the width
The filled versions are full-width characters: each takes roughly the space of two letters. A ten-letter word in filled squares occupies twenty characters of width and will overflow an Instagram bio, capped at 150 characters.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my text turn uppercase?
Because filled circle, square and filled square only exist as capitals in Unicode. The outlined circle style keeps your lowercase.
Do bubble letters work on every phone?
Outlined circles are very widely supported. The filled and squared versions are newer and may render as coloured emoji or empty boxes on older devices.
Can I get bubble numbers?
Circled digits exist in Unicode but on a separate range. This tool handles letters; digits pass through unchanged.