# On which day of the week were you born? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 13, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396 "2012-01-13T15:46:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/1 "2012-01-13T15:46:07Z")
Simple question. Public poll. ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/2 "2012-01-13T15:50:01Z")
Tuesday for me. Strange, I never noticed I was full of grace… ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/3 "2012-01-13T15:51:16Z")
I’m bonny and blythe and good and gay. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/4 "2012-01-13T15:55:28Z")
> [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](#): > > Tuesday for me. Strange, I never noticed I was full of grace… How does that thing go? What befalls a Thursday child? ---
**Author:** ![Lanzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/74df32/32.png) [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/5 "2012-01-13T15:55:36Z")
Fair Face ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/6 "2012-01-13T16:03:00Z")
Curiosity outdid patience. Here’s a version of the ditty from [Nursery Rhymes lyrics, origins and history](http://www.rhymes.org.uk/thursdays_child.htm) > [@](#): > > Thursdays Child poem > AKA Mondays child > > Mondays child is fair of face, > Tuesdays child is full of grace, > Wednesdays child is full of woe, > Thursdays child has far to go, > Fridays child is loving and giving, > Saturdays child works hard for his living, > And the child that is born on the Sabbath day > Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/7 "2012-01-13T16:06:23Z")
I seem to remember reading somewhere that people born on a Thursday are more likely to answer polls. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/8 "2012-01-13T16:07:05Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I seem to remember reading somewhere that people born on a Thursday are more likely to answer polls. Got to be working here! ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/9 "2012-01-13T16:08:49Z")
Friday. Loving and giving. Hmmmmm… Considering that my dear departed love and I ran a charity for more than a decade, I guess that is accurate. ETA: Maybe I should have said immodest as well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/10 "2012-01-13T16:12:26Z")
I don’t remember. I was just a kid. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/11 "2012-01-13T16:20:20Z")
It was a Saturday morning at 6:37 AM. As someone who is decidedly not a morning person, I like to say it was the first, and last time, I ever got up that early. ---
**Author:** ![Gymnopithys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/fbc32d/32.png) [@Gymnopithys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gymnopithys)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/12 "2012-01-13T16:21:30Z")
I’m sure it’s just as consequential as the astrological sign you were born under. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/13 "2012-01-13T16:22:58Z")
Tuesday. I studied dance for 10 years growing up and all through high school; I like to think I’m graceful. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/14 "2012-01-13T16:30:59Z")
Wednesday, full of woe. Sounds about right. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/15 "2012-01-13T16:32:38Z")
Wednesday. Pretty much dead on. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/16 "2012-01-13T16:35:15Z")
My youngest sister and I were both born on Sundays; and our parents named us partially after a line in the nursery rhyme ‘Monday’s Child’: Monday’s child is fair of face Tuesday’s child is full of grace, Wednesday’s child is full of woe, Thursday’s child has far to go, Friday’s child is loving and giving, Saturday’s child works hard for a living, But the child born on the Sabbath Day, Is bonny and blithe and good and gay. (No, we are not named Good and Gay - can you imagine? And amusingly we are both atheists.) ETA: Haha, didn’t read the thread and see that this rhyme had already been mentioned several times! ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/17 "2012-01-13T16:48:49Z")
Sunday, here. Bonny and blithe? Sure. Good? Sometimes. Gay? No. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/18 "2012-01-13T16:56:21Z")
Saturday. [Here’s a calculator](http://www.searchforancestors.com/utility/dayofweek.html) for all of the normal people who have no idea 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/19 "2012-01-13T17:36:05Z")
Or here’s a way you can calculate it in your head, if you know what day of the week your birthday is on this year (or in some other year): A given date advances X days through the cycle of the week between year A and year B, where X = (B-A) + (number of leap years - the number of February 29ths, actually - in between Year A and Year B). For instance, Christmas 2011 fell on a Sunday. In 1971, Christmas was on a Saturday. From 1971 to 2011 is 40 years, with 10 leap years. So Christmas moved 50 days around the week between 1971 and 2011. 49 =7x7, so the first 49 of those days move the date 7 times around the week and back to the same day as it started. The 50th day moves it 1 day forward. Flipping that around, that’s 1 day backward between 1971 and 2011, so Sunday in 2011 ==\> Saturday in 1971. Or today is January 13, 2012. It’s a Friday. What day of the week will January 13 fall on in 2042? 30 years + 8 leap years (why 8? I’ll get there) = 38 = 5\*7 + 3. So Jan, 13 goes five times around the week, plus 3 more days, so it’ll be on a Monday in 2042. Why 8 leap years? Because we have 7 leap years (2016, 2020, 2024, 2028, 2032, 2036, and 2040) in between, but we also count 2012 because what we’re really counting isn’t actually the leap year as a whole, but just the extra day on Feb. 29. And Feb. 29, 2012 is in the interval between Jan. 13, 2012 and Jan. 13, 2042. So we count it. Note: this works only between March 1, 1900 and February 28, 2100. Outside of those dates, one must adjust for the lack of a February 29 in either of those years. If you want to know what day a date falls on in A.D. 2101, when war was beginning, don’t count 2100 among your leap years. Years ending in 00 are leap years only if the number of centuries is divisible by 4: 2000, 2400, 2800, etc. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396/20 "2012-01-13T17:41:43Z")
As an alternative to the traditional rhyme, there’s the 1960s pop song “Saturday’s Child” performed by the Monkees. Here are the relevant parts: Monday had a sad child Always feeling low down, Tuesday had a dream child She’s always on the go If you love a Wednesday You’ll live your life apart now And if you love a Thursday She’s gonna break your heart Friday likes the good life She’ll take you for a ride now And Sunday makes a good wife But she wants to be a bride Oddly, the song never states Saturday’s virtues, other than “she drives me wild” and she’s “got what it takes, babe. I can tell by the way she looks at me.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/on-which-day-of-the-week-were-you-born/609396.md?page=2)