Days of the week
Find the day of the week you were born, then see what tradition says it means: the old Monday’s Child rhyme, the planet that rules each day, personality, love and work, and where the names come from.
What day were you born?
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The seven days
The Monday’s Child rhyme
This fortune-telling rhyme was first printed in England in 1838, in A. E. Bray’s Traditions of Devonshire. Versions differ a little; this is the best-known one.
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 that is born on the Sabbath day is bonny and blithe, good and gay
Which day are most Americans born on?
Tuesday. Weekdays see far more births than weekends, largely because scheduled inductions and C-sections happen on workdays.
Average US births per day, 2000 to 2014. Source: Social Security Administration data via FiveThirtyEight.
Where the names come from
The Romans named the days after the seven bright objects they could see moving across the sky. English kept the Sun, Moon and Saturn, and swapped the other Roman gods for Germanic ones.
| Day | Old English | Meaning | Latin | Planet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | Mōnandæg | the Moon's day | dies Lunae | ☽ Moon |
| Tuesday | Tīwesdæg | Tiw's day | dies Martis | ♂ Mars |
| Wednesday | Wōdnesdæg | Woden's day | dies Mercurii | ☿ Mercury |
| Thursday | Þūnresdæg | Thunor's (Thor's) day | dies Iovis | ♃ Jupiter |
| Friday | Frīgedæg | Frigg's day | dies Veneris | ♀ Venus |
| Saturday | Sæternesdæg | Saturn's day | dies Saturni | ♄ Saturn |
| Sunday | Sunnandæg | the Sun's day | dies Solis | ☉ Sun |
For entertainment. Name origins are standard etymology; ruling planets, metals and personality descriptions are traditional folklore, not science.