The Months of the Year

The names of all our months come from Latin.

• January, from Januarius. Named after Janus, the two-headed god of beginnings.
• February, from Februarius.
• March, from Martius. Named after Mars, the god of war, it was originally the first month of the Roman year.
• April, from Aprilis.
• May, from Maius. Named after Maia, the mother of Mercury, the messenger of the gods.
• June, from Junius. Named after Juno, the queen of the gods.
• July, from Julius. Named after Julius Caesar, this month was originally called Quintilis, a word related to the adjective quintus, meaning fifth. Quintilis was the fifth month of the year when the calendar started with Martius.
• August, from Augustus. Named after Augustus Caesar, this month was originally called Sextilis, related to sextus, sixth, because it was originally the sixth month of the year.
• September, October, November, and December are taken directly from Latin. The words for these months are related to septimus, octavus, nonus, and decimus, because they were originally the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth months of the year.