"What day of the week was I born?" is one of the most fun things to look up about yourself — were you a Monday's child, or born on a weekend? Here's the instant way to find out, plus a clever trick to calculate any date's weekday in your head.
The fastest method: our birthday calculator tells you your birth weekday, zodiac sign, and how many days you've been alive — just enter your date of birth.
The instant way
Enter your date of birth into the birthday calculator and it returns:
- The exact day of the week you were born
- Your age in years, months and days
- Days you've been alive (a surprisingly big number)
- Your Western and Chinese zodiac signs
- Your birthstone and how long until your next birthday
You can also check any single date's weekday with the date calculator.
The nursery rhyme: "Monday's Child"
The old rhyme assigns a trait to each birth weekday:
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,
And the child born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.
It's just folklore — but a charming way to remember your birth day.
How to calculate a weekday by hand (the Doomsday rule)
Mathematician John Conway devised the "Doomsday" method. The idea: certain easy-to-remember dates each year all fall on the same weekday — the year's "Doomsday." For example, 4/4, 6/6, 8/8, 10/10 and 12/12 are always the same weekday in any given year.
Once you know that anchor weekday for the year, you can count forward or backward to any date. With practice, people can work out any date's weekday in seconds. (It takes practice — for everyday use, the date calculator is instant.)
Some quick facts about birth weekdays
- Roughly 1 in 7 people share each birth weekday.
- Fewer babies are born on weekends in many countries — partly because scheduled deliveries happen on weekdays.
- Your birthday falls on a different weekday most years, advancing by one day each year (two after a leap day).
Quick answers
How do I find what day of the week I was born? Enter your date of birth into the birthday calculator — it shows your birth weekday instantly.
Why does my birthday change weekday each year? A common year is 365 days = 52 weeks + 1 day, so your birthday advances one weekday each year (two after a 29 February).
What is the "Monday's Child" rhyme? A traditional folk rhyme that assigns a characteristic to each day of the week a child is born on.
Can I calculate a weekday without a tool? Yes — Conway's "Doomsday rule" lets you work out any date's weekday by hand once you learn the year's anchor day.