# When did full moons start becoming a thing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 13, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894 "2022-07-13T18:15:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/1 "2022-07-13T18:15:24Z")
I’ve lived through about 800 full moons, and they seem to all be pretty much the same. But now, we get “super moons” and moons with names (I think this week we had a “buck moon”) and breathless news articles about how this is the biggest closest most impressive moon in the last 4 weeks. Did the moon hire a new PR firm? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/2 "2022-07-13T18:21:14Z")
Lunar calendars originated in prehistoric times, so naming months/moons does not seem like a new innovation. They are not all the same, either: sometimes the moon is bigger, or smaller, or librated, or up there in the middle of the day, or eclipsed. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/3 "2022-07-13T18:23:07Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > moons with names (I think this week we had a “buck moon”) _The Old Farmer’s Almanac_ is partially to blame for that. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/4 "2022-07-13T18:24:07Z")
I noticed the moon was pretty bodacious last night, and thought, “I bet that one has a name”. Buck moon, huh? ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/5 "2022-07-13T18:26:19Z")
New PR rep: [![](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/fatal-fiction-fanon/images/9/9b/Sailor_Moon_-_Sailor_Moon_with_her_Wand.png/revision/latest?cb=20170825103355) ](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/fatal-fiction-fanon/images/9/9b/Sailor_Moon_-_Sailor_Moon_with_her_Wand.png/revision/latest?cb=20170825103355) ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/6 "2022-07-13T18:29:31Z")
There are no longer any unamed moons. You have your Wolf moon in January, next you have the Snow moon, Worm moon, Pink, Flower, Strawberry, Buck, Sturgeon. Harvest moon in the fall, Blood moon. Super moon! Let’s all stay up and watch that, it will be the biggest moon for the year, maybe ever! Looks just like a normal full moon, we should go back inside now because it is cold and the mosquitoes are eating me up. "_on a moonlit night you’ve got your dead toad frogs, you got a dead skunk in the middle, dead skunk in the middle of the road, dead skunk in the middle of the road and it’s stinkin’ to high heaven."_ ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/7 "2022-07-13T18:37:57Z")
I was tempted to answer, Every 28 days or so… ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/8 "2022-07-13T18:43:35Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > There are no longer any unamed moons. You have your Wolf moon in January, next you have the Snow moon, Worm moon, Pink, Flower, Strawberry, Buck, Sturgeon. Harvest moon in the fall, Blood moon. Says who? Aren’t there any competing Farmers’ Almanacs with different, or no, names? Plus, I suspect few have ever heard those names (I’ve never seen or opened a farmer’s almanac, for example), whereas plenty of people have heard of Shawwal and Ramadan for instance. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/9 "2022-07-13T18:46:27Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Says who? Native Americans, mostly. We’ve already appropriated everything of actual value from them. Now all that’s left are pointless nicknames for a full moon. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/10 "2022-07-13T19:03:58Z")
> [@SuntanLotion](#): > > I was tempted to answer, Every 28 days or so… Yeah, my OP was open to interpretation. 🙂 A better phrasing would be “Why is every full moon now something special?” The Farmer’s Almanac may be the source of the names, but it’s been around since 1818. Something changed. ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/11 "2022-07-13T19:07:33Z")
I think y’all are missing the point of the OP. > [@jsc1953](#): > > Did the moon hire a new PR firm? I don’t remember any of these many moon names from when I was younger. The only exception was “blue moon”, which no one knew what it was, and even that would’ve been forgotten if not for the [popular song](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Moon_(1934_song)) So when and why did the media start hyping the stuff? ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/12 "2022-07-13T19:08:42Z")
Ooops, ninjaed by the OP. I might have gotten it in first if I hadn’t spent time linking “popular song” to the Wiki article. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/13 "2022-07-13T19:11:09Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > But now, we get “super moons” and moons with names (I think this week we had a “buck moon”) and breathless news articles about how this is the biggest closest most impressive moon in the last 4 weeks. I pitted this a while back. > [@Enough with the fucking full moon names!](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enough-with-the-fucking-full-moon-names/847626): > > Anyone noticed how it is a thing now to have a cute name for every full moon now, often with a “super” tacked on the front? For instance, right now we have a “[Super Snow Moon](https://www.al.com/news/2020/02/super-snow-moon-2020-bright-full-moon-will-light-up-the-night-sky-tonight.html).” Coming later this year are Super Worm Moon Super Pink Moon Super Flower Moon Strawberry MoonBuck Moon Sturgeon Moon Harvest Moon Corn Moon Hunter’s Moon Beaver Moon (Really? Freaking Beaver Moon?) Cold Moon Is this utterly idiotic, or am I standing alone? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/14 "2022-07-13T19:15:30Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Says who? Aren’t there any competing Farmers’ Almanacs with different, or no, names? Plus, I suspect few have ever heard those names (I’ve never seen or opened a farmer’s almanac, for example), whereas plenty of people have heard of Shawwal and Ramadan for instance. my media feed, that’s who. Every full moon nowadays seens to get some breathless story about the biggest/reddest/smallest/bluest “cute name” full moon. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/15 "2022-07-13T19:40:43Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > New PR rep Probably more appealing than the moon’s [previous PR reps](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui5l8mp4BO4) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/16 "2022-07-13T19:56:15Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > the moon’s [previous PR reps](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ui5l8mp4BO4) Came for Spongmonkeys. Was not disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/17 "2022-07-13T20:12:17Z")
“Supermoon” is a term for a specific phenomena: > **[What is a Supermoon? - NASA Science](https://science.nasa.gov/earth/moon/what-is-a-supermoon/)** > > A supermoon occurs when the moon’s orbit is closest (perigee) to Earth at the same time it is full. > [@](#): > > The term “supermoon” was coined in 1979 The sequence of names of moons isn’t at all new. Though more seasonally oriented, it’s no different from having months or days of the week with names rather than numbers\*. We might notice the moon names more because they’re in our vernacular so the metaphor seems “live” --“Wolf Moon” is more immediately evocative of a wolf than “Wednesday” is of Odin. I remember these terms being used in a technical sense, but not so much as a popular culture thing. In 1979, I read one local daily and one local weekly paper, and since there weren’t 24 hour news stations, bloggers, influencers, and thousands of channels of various sorts, I’d experience any notice of something interesting or descriptive once or twice, not multiple times and with the gushiness of reporting something mildly interesting as a news phenomenon. > **[Snow Moon? Pink Moon? Every Full Moon Has A Nickname — Here's What Each One...](https://www.elitedaily.com/lifestyle/why-do-full-moons-have-names)** > > Full moons have different nicknames, depending on seasonal changes or patterns used in agriculture. Here's what each full moon name represents. \*In Hebrew, for example, Sunday is “Yom Rishon,” “First Day.” ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/18 "2022-07-13T21:45:53Z")
In my current apartment a full moon can wash my entire bedroom in moonlight. I find it kind of neat. Honestly, I don’t mind the moon nicknames because it’s one of the few non-negative things that seem to be in the news these days. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/19 "2022-07-13T21:56:45Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > > [@SuntanLotion](#): > > > > I was tempted to answer, Every 28 days or so… > > Yeah, my OP was open to interpretation. 🙂 A better phrasing would be “Why is every full moon now something special?” > > The Farmer’s Almanac may be the source of the names, but it’s been around since 1818. Something changed. The answer to “Why?” is “Clicks”. The rubes eat this shit up for some reason. Every time somebody posts, or forwards, or TwitFaces about this stuff, advertising vendors make money. So now they’re heavily into inventing shit designed to be forwardable. Why the Moon specifically? Why not? Half of politics now is soundbites designed to be forwarded for (somebody else’s) profit. If the public will take the bait, the suppliers will quickly create a LOT more of the same bait. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894/20 "2022-07-13T22:28:35Z")
Another astronomical science-adjacent thing I’ve seen in the past couple years is articles about the Earth’s perihelion/aphelion. For those unfamiliar with the terms, those are the points in the Earth’s orbit that are nearest/farthest from the Sun. Nothing really special about those points, they happen once a year each. Just something more to clutter up the science section of your newsfeed with non-science. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-full-moons-start-becoming-a-thing/967894.md?page=2)