Month Names – Origin and List
- Updated on 07 Nov 2022
- Academics
- Prakriti Dhodare
- 2 mins read
Table of Contents
Kids become very curious when it comes to know about a new topic. They are always curious to know about things. What if they ask you why the month march is called March and who has given this name to a month? Have you ever wondered how we got the names of months? Interesting right? You also might want to know about the history of months. In this article, you will learn all month names in English.
Origins of the Months’ Names:
All the months’ names in English have Latin roots. In our daily lives, we follow the modern Gregorian calendar. Pope Gregory XIII introduced this calendar in October 1582. He has modified and replaced the Julian calendar. Let us explore the origin of the names of the months.
• January
January is named after Janus, the god of doors and gates.
• February
February is named after Februalia. This is a time period when sacrifices were made to atone for sins.
• March
March is named after Mars, the god of war.
• April
April is named from “aperire”, which means open.
• May
May is named after Maia. She is the goddess of the growth of plants.
• June
June, named “Junius”, came from the name of the goddess Juno.
• July
July was named in 44 B.C. after Julius Caesar.
• August
August was named in 8 B.C. after Augustus Caesar.
• September
September named from seven. The Latin name of seven is “Septem”.
• October
October named from eight. The Latin name of eight is “Octo”.
• November
November named from nine. The Latin name of nine is “Novem”.
• December
December is named after the term “ten”.In Latin, the term Decem means “Ten”.
The Roman calendar involved ten months in a year. The Romans ignored the remaining 61 days of the year, which fell in the middle of winter. The names of the ten months are as follows: Martius, Aprilis, Maius, Junius, Quintilis, Sextilis, September, October, November, and December.
How Many Months Have 30 Days?
In a year, there is a total of 12 months. However, not every month has the same number of days. There are four months in a year with 30 days: April, June, September, and November.
How Many Months Have 31 Days?
There are seven months in a year, with 31 days in a month. The names of those months are January, March, May, July, August, October, and December.
There are 365 days in a year. Every month has 30 or 31 days, except for February. It has 28 days for three years, where every fourth year is called a leap year, with 29 days in February instead of 28 days. However, a leap year has 366 days in a year, and the 29th day of February is known as Leap Day.
List of Month Names
Here is the list of 12-month names in English
| Months | Days |
| January | 31 days |
| February | 28 days or 29 days (Leap Year) |
| March | 31 days |
| April | 30 days |
| May | 31 days |
| June | 30 days |
| July | 31 days |
| August | 31 days |
| September | 30 days |
| October | 31 days |
| November | 30 days |
| December | 31 days |
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who Named Months?
Answer: Julius Caesar introduced the calendar with a month-name list. Later in 45 B.C., Pope Gregory XIII introduced a new calendar with modifications, such as birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and public holidays. It is known as Gregorian Calendar. All the names of the month are derived from the Roman gods, leaders, festivals, and numbers.
2. What is the Name of the Thirteenth Month?
Answer: The name of the thirteenth month is Vern. Due to its proximity to the vernal equinox and the beginning of spring, this month is placed between February and March.
3. What or Who Was the Month of August Named After?
Answer: In 753 B.C., the year consisted of ten months used to starting in March. The name August came from the name of the first Roman emperor, Augustus Caesar, in 8 B.C. His original name was Sextilis in Latin. Sextilis means ” sixth “, which indicates the month’s position in the early Roman calendar. So, according to this, August was the sixth month.
4. Who Was the Month of July Named After?
Answer: In 44 BCE, the month of July was named after Julius Caesar. It is the seventh month of the Gregorian calendar. The original name of Julius Caesar was Quintilis, which means “fifth”. According to the Roman calendar, it was the year’s fifth month.