Months of the Year – List of Months in Order

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Here you can find numbers for all months of the year and a months of the year list, as well as how the months got their names, how many days are in each month, the history of the calendars and how you can easily know which months have 31 days (aka the Knuckle Method).

List of months

The months of the year list – All the months in order

Month number	Name of the Month	Days in Month	For Short	Quarter	Season*
1	January	31 days	Jan.	Q1	Winter
2	February	28 days (common year) 29 days (leap year)	Feb.	Q1	Winter
3	March	31 days	Mar.	Q1	Spring
4	April	30 days	Apr.	Q2	Spring
5	May	31 days	May.	Q2	Spring
6	June	30 days	Jun.	Q2	Summer
7	July	31 days	Jul.	Q3	Summer
8	August	31 days	Aug.	Q3	Summer
9	September	30 days	Sep.	Q3	Autumn
10	October	31 days	Oct.	Q4	Autumn
11	November	30 days	Nov.	Q4	Autumn
12	December	31 days	Dec.	Q4	Winter

*) Season for Northern Hemisphere

How many months in a year? – The number of months in a year

There are twelve months in a year.

How many days in each month – The number of days in a month

January | February | March | April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November | December 

Each month has 30 and 31 days, except for February, which has 28 or 29 days (29 during leap years).

And how many weeks are there in a month?

Each month is approximately four and a half weeks long.

How to know how many days in each month – The Knuckle Method

I remember as a kid using the knuckle method to know which months have 30 days and which months 31 days.

When you get to the knuckle of the index finger, you jump on the other hand and continue counting with the knuckle of the other index finger. This way, July and August (months next to each other with 31 days in each) are both on the knuckle.

The last knuckle isn’t used.

Leap years explained

What are leap years?

A leap year is a calendar year with an extra day, the 29th of February (leap day) inserted into it. The solar year is approx 365.25 days long, so the extra day every four years compensates for the inexact number of days in a year.

Leap years happen every four years, so one year in every fourth year has 366 days, instead of the usual 365.

Is the year 2028 a leap year?

The year 2028 is a leap year.

When are the next leap years?

The following five leap years are 2028, 2032, 2036, 2040 and 2044.

What were the past leap years?

The past leap years were 2024, 2020, 2016, 2012, 2008, 2004, 2000.

How do you know if a year is a leap year?

If the calendar has the day February 29th (Leap Day), then the year is a leap year.

How to remember which year is a leap year?

If you don’t remember what years are leap years, you can start from the year 2000 (that was a leap year) or from 2020 (that was a leap year as well) and start adding four years.

2020+4=2024. 2024+4=2028 and so on. 

So you could say that most years that can be divided by four without a remainder are leap years.

LEARN MORE ABOUT LEAP YEARS: Leap Year List – When Is the Next Leap Year?

What are the 12 months in order?

The twelve months in order are January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November December.

What are the numbers for each month?

The names of the months – Where the names of the months come from?

Where do the month names come from? What are they based originally on?

January (in Latin, Ianuarius, or Mensis Ianuarius) was named after the Roman god Janus who looked both backward to the past and forwards to the future.

February (in Latin, Februarius, or Mensis Februarius) was named after the Roman festival of purification, Februa.

March (in Latin, Martius or Mensis Martius ) was named after the Roman god Mars.

There are a few interpretations about what April (in Latin, Aprilis or Mensis Aprilis) was named after. One is that it comes from the Latin word “aperire”, to open. And April is the month to “open” the spring. The other interpretation is that the original word was Aphrilis from goddess Venus’ Greek equivalent, Aphrodite, because April was Venus’ favorite month.

May (in Latin, Maius or Mensis Maius) was named after the Greek goddess Maia, who was connected to the Roman Goddess of Fertility, Bona Dea. Bona Dea’s Festival was held in May.

June (in Latin, Junius or Mensis Junius) was named after the Roman goddess Juno. Juno was the wife of Jupiter, the king of gods.

July (in Latin, Iūlius) was named after Julius Caesar in 44 BC. Before the name change, it was called Quintilis (or Mensis Quintilis) because it was the 5th month of the 10-month calendar.

August (in Latin, Augustus) was named after the first emperor of Rome, Augustus. Before the name change, it was called Sextilis (or Mensis Sextilis) because it was the sixth month of the 10-month calendar.

September (in Latin September, or Mensis September) was originally the seventh month of the 10-month calendar, and it’s originated from the word septem, which means seven.

October (in Latin October, or Mensis October) was originally the eighth month of the 10-month calendar, and it’s originated from the word ôctō, which means eight.

November (in Latin November, or Mensis November) was originally the ninth month of the 10-month calendar, and it’s originated from the word novem, which means nine.

December (in Latin December, or Mensis December) was originally the 10th (and last) month of the 10-month calendar, and it’s originated from the word decem, which means ten.

Lunar Calendar – The origin of months: moon’s orbit

The origin of months is believed to be based on the lunar cycle.

The word “month” is derived from the Latin word mensis.

The Lunar calendar months were first used to measure the natural period related to the time for the moon to go through all moon phases – the synodic month. The months began with the first signs of the crescent moon. 

The idea was to break down the year into shorter, “more manageable” periods that coincide with the moon’s phases.

The problem with the lunar calendar was that following the moon’s orbit would not have aligned with the solar year, making the solar year about 10 days short.

History of the months – Roman Calendar & Julian calendar

The Ancient Romans had the Roman calendar, and it was originally based on ten months, and it began with March (the first month) and ended in December (the last month).

The Roman ruler Numa Pompilius is said to add January and February to the calendar to make the year 12 months long. 

Julius Caesar introduced the Julian calendar in 45 BC, a reform of the Roman Calendar, with a year length of 365.25 days.

So every three years had 365 days and the fourth year had 366 years, making that year the leap year.

The Modern-day calendar: Gregorian Calendar

The modern-day calendar is Gregorian Calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and is based on the Julian calendar.

The Julian calendar year was 365.25 days long when the more accurate solar year on average is 365.24219 days (365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 45 seconds long). 

So Pope Gregory XIII made a minor modification to the Julian calendar, making the year length 365.2425 days, which is more accurate than the Julian Calendar. 

That doesn’t sound like a significant change, but it means that because the Julian calendar is 10.8 minutes longer, it gains one extra day every 128 years compared to the Gregorian calendar.

And that small of a change makes the Julian calendar be 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar. So not so small, after all.

Gregorian calendar is the most commonly used calendar in the world.

Other calendars are still used to calculate f.ex religious holidays and annual feasts, but the Gregorian calendar is most commonly used to track days, weeks, months, and years.

Year-at-a-glance Calendars

Looking for monthly calendars to print out

If you’re looking for free aesthetic calendar designs by month, you might like my printable calendars. There are multiple designs and all calendars come with dates.

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