Ever looked at a calendar and wondered why the ninth month is called "September"? If you know a lick of Latin, you’ll realize septem means seven. It’s weird. It’s objectively wrong. It’s like naming your ninth child "Number Seven" and just rolling with it for two thousand years. Most people assume the names of our months are just ancient, dusty words, but the origin of the names of months is actually a chaotic saga of Roman politics, religious superstition, and a few emperors who really wanted their names to live forever.
We’re living in a timeline designed by people who were obsessed with war, farming, and the gods. The Gregorian calendar we use today is a direct descendant of the Roman one, which, honestly, started out as a complete disaster. It only had ten months. Winter didn’t even count. They just... stopped tracking time when it got too cold to farm or fight.
The Chaos of the Ten-Month Year
If you lived in early Rome around 753 BCE, your year started in March. It makes sense if you’re a soldier or a farmer. March was when the snow melted, the ground softened, and you could finally go back to hitting people with swords or planting grain. The original calendar ended in December. After that? Total dead zone. A gap of about 61 days existed where everyone basically just waited for spring without a formal month name.
Eventually, a king named Numa Pompilius realized this was a terrible way to run an empire. He added January and February to the end of the year to align better with the lunar cycles. But the origin of the names of months stayed rooted in that old ten-month system, which is why the numbering is so broken today.
March: The God of War Takes the Lead
March (Martius) is named after Mars. Nowadays, we think of Mars as the red planet or a candy bar, but to a Roman, he was the god of war. Starting the year with Mars was a statement. It was "campaign season." Interestingly, Mars wasn't just about blood and guts; he was also an agricultural guardian. The year began with the duality of growth and conquest.
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April: A Bit of a Mystery
Historians argue about April (Aprilis). Some say it comes from the Latin word aperire, which means "to open." Think of buds opening on a tree. It’s a beautiful, poetic thought. Others think it’s a nod to Aphrodite, the Greek version of Venus. Given how much the Romans borrowed from the Greeks, it's a solid theory.
May and June: The Elders and the Youth
May is almost certainly for Maia. She was an earth goddess, a nurturer. It’s the peak of spring, so it fits. June follows for Juno, the queen of the gods and the patron of marriage and wellbeing. It’s probably why June weddings are still a huge thing today—we’re sub-consciously following a 2,000-year-old Roman trend.
When Emperors Hijacked the Calendar
This is where things get spicy. If you look at the origin of the names of months from July onwards, the naming convention shifts from gods to numbers—until the Caesars showed up.
July used to be Quintilis, which literally just means "Fifth Month." But after Julius Caesar got assassinated and basically became a deity in the eyes of the state, the Senate renamed his birth month Julius in 44 BCE.
Then came Augustus.
He was the first official emperor, and he wasn't about to be outdone by his great-uncle Julius. He took Sextilis (the sixth month) and turned it into August. There’s a persistent myth that Augustus added a day to August because he wanted his month to be just as long as Julius’s July, but that’s actually not true. Most scholars, like those who study the Fasti (the Roman ceremonial calendar), point out that the lengths of the months were settled long before that ego trip.
The Numerical Identity Crisis
Here is where the math falls apart. Because January and February were moved from the end of the year to the beginning, the "numbered" months got pushed back two slots.
- September: From septem (seven). It’s the 9th month.
- October: From octo (eight). It’s the 10th month.
- November: From novem (nine). It’s the 11th month.
- December: From decem (ten). It’s the 12th month.
We’ve had centuries to fix this. We haven't. We just live with the fact that October, the "eighth" month, is full of pumpkins in month ten.
January and February: The Late Arrivals
January is named for Janus, the two-faced god of beginnings, transitions, and doorways. He looks backward at the past and forward into the future. It’s a perfect name for the start of the year, even though it took a while for January to officially take the top spot.
February is the weird one. Its name comes from februa, which were instruments used in a purification ritual called Februua. Basically, it was a month of spring cleaning—but for your soul. It was a time to atone for the sins of the previous year before the new year kicked off in March. This is also why February is so short. It was the "leftover" month, the one that got squeezed when the Romans were trying to make their lunar calendar fit the solar year.
Why Does This Matter in 2026?
Understanding the origin of the names of months isn't just a trivia flex. It explains why our concept of time is so heavily skewed toward Western, Mediterranean history. Different cultures have vastly different ways of naming time. In the Hebrew calendar, months are linked to Babylonian names like Nisan and Tishrei. The French Revolution tried to throw the Roman names out entirely, replacing them with nature-based names like Thermidor (heat) and Brumaire (fog). It didn't stick because people hate changing their habits.
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The fact that we still use these names shows the incredible staying power of the Roman Empire. We aren't just using their roads and their legal concepts; we are literally living inside their clock.
Practical Ways to Use This Knowledge
Don't just read this and forget it. Use the logic of the months to rethink your year.
- Reclaim March as the "Real" New Year: If you failed your January resolutions, don't sweat it. January was a late addition meant for reflection. March is the historical time for action and new starts. Use the spring equinox as your actual "Get It Done" date.
- February Purification: Instead of just thinking of it as Valentine's month, use the original februa intent. It's the perfect time for a digital detox or a literal house cleaning before the chaos of spring.
- Appreciate the "Mismatched" Months: When September hits, remember the number seven. It’s a reminder that systems are rarely perfect and that humans have been "fixing it in post" for millennia.
The calendar is a messy, beautiful patchwork of human ego and celestial observation. It’s flawed, slightly confusing, and deeply rooted in the stories we tell ourselves about the gods and the seasons. Next time you flip the page on your desk calendar, remember you're not just looking at a date; you're looking at a Roman power struggle that never ended.
Actionable Insight: To dive deeper into how time shapes your productivity, track your energy levels against the original seasonal intent of these months (e.g., active in March, reflective in January). You might find your biological clock aligns more with the ancient Roman cycle than the modern 9-to-5 grind.