What Your Birth Month Was Called In The Old English Calendar
October’s Old English name referred to the full moon that marked winter’s beginning. May’s referred to milking cows three times a day. These names reveal a year shaped by weather, farming, and religious traditions.
In 725, the monk Bede recorded an early English calendar in The Reckoning of Time. Its months followed the moon, so their matches with our modern months are approximate. The names below draw on Bede’s account and other surviving Old English records. They belong to one historical tradition; the familiar Roman month names were already in use when Bede wrote.
January: Æftera Geola
Æftera Geola means the later Yule month. Old English records distinguish it from December, the earlier Yule month. Both months were called Giuli and were associated with the sun’s turn toward longer days. January belonged to the second half of a Yule season that stretched across what we now treat as the start of a new year.
February: Solmonath
For February, Bede recorded Solmonath, which he explained through cakes offered to the gods. His explanation links February with food prepared as a religious offering. The cake explanation is Bede’s interpretation of the name, rather than an undisputed translation.
March: Hrethmonath
Hrethmonath, also written Rhedmonath, was associated with a deity called Rheda, to whom offerings were made during this month. Bede’s short explanation preserves a name and a practice, with little of the surrounding story.
April: Eosturmonath
April was Eosturmonath. Bede linked it to a goddess named Eostre and festivals held in her honor; he also connected that older name with the English name for Easter. Scholars continue to examine how much can be established from his brief account.
May: Thrimilchi
Thrimilchi refers to three milkings. Bede explained that cattle were milked three times a day during this month, describing an earlier abundance in Britain or the Germanic lands from which the English had come. The name remembers a season when cattle were said to produce enough milk for three milkings a day.
June: Ærra Litha
Ærra Litha was the earlier Litha month. Bede used Litha for both June and July, connecting the name with gentle weather and waters suitable for sailing. Other Old English records distinguish the two months as earlier and later.
July: Æftera Litha
July was Æftera Litha, the later Litha month. But the summer pair could become a trio: Bede describes years with thirteen lunar months, when an additional month was placed in summer and also called Litha. This extra month helped keep the lunar calendar aligned with the seasons.
August: Weodmonath
Weodmonath was the month of weeds. Bede associated it with their abundance at this time of year. There is something pleasingly unpolished about the name. The name captures the abundance of growth at that time of year.
September: Halegmonath
Bede called September Halegmonath, the holy month or month of sacred rites. He gives the meaning without describing a particular ceremony.
October: Winterfylleth
Winterfylleth joins winter with the full moon. In Bede’s account, winter began with this month’s full moon, within a division of the year into summer and winter. For an October birthday, that is a striking historical association: a change of season marked by something people could look up and see together.
November: Blotmonath
Blotmonath was the month of sacrifice. Bede described cattle being dedicated to the gods before slaughter. It is a stark reminder that the calendar recorded religious duties as well as changes in the natural world.
December: Ærra Geola
Ærra Geola, the earlier Yule month, brings us back to the name shared with January. Bede connected the two Yule months with the turning of the sun toward increasing daylight.