Yesterday, I went to go visit a good friend who had just given birth to an adorable baby girl. As I held the newborn in my arms and chatted away with the proud (but tired) mom and dad, I couldn’t help but think about all the other women in my life who had given birth, or is about to give birth, within this 2-3 month period.
I also remembered how this time last year, as I was awaiting the birth of Aerin, I knew no less than five other women who were due within a month of me.
Needless to say, curiosity got the best of me, and as soon as I arrived home and I immediately fired up my laptop to look up common birth months.
And wouldn’t you know it? Just three months ago, NPR data journalist Matt Stiles posted a heavily-circulated (how did I miss it?) infographic of the most common birth dates in the United States.
You can also check out an interactive version of the chart here, where you can actually see the rank of each birth date as you hover over them.
The findings confirmed my suspicions, and what my friends and I have theorized all along. I mean, just LOOK at all those July – September birthdays! It’s plain to see that couples tend to do the deed more often during the colder months. 😉
You can also see that the last few days of December are pretty popular — I can only surmise that this is due to all the c-sections and inductions scheduled before the new year in order to qualify for the year’s tax credits.
Despite the fact that Claire’s birthday (Sept 30) — falls right within the “busy” months, I was still surprised to see that it is ranked an astonishing 13th most popular birth date. Meanwhile, Aerin’s birthday (Nov 1) is ranked 233rd, J’s (Jan 27) 262nd, and mine (Dec 7) 284th.
And the least popular birth date of the year? That would be Christmas Day, if you discount February 29th.
How does your birth date measure up? Are you surprised by the results?
