How the Months Got their Names
Script I wrote for the video below.
The months names date all the way back to the Roman Empire. January was after Janus, the god of beginnings and endings. And February was after Februa, a purification festival that happened at that time of year. Now, both of those months were later editions, as the original Roman calendar only had ten months, and at the end of every year there was a 50 or so day period with days that didn't fall into any month. And then, when the moon looked right, the Romans would start the year over again, starting with the original first month, March.
March is named after Mars, the God of War, because, as everyone knows, war season starts at the end of winter. The next three’s origins are so old, even the Romans debated where they came from. April might be named after Aphrodite, the goddess of love. May after Maya, the goddess of spring and growth. And June after Juno, the goddess of marriage and childbirth. But who knows? Here are some other best guesses.
July is after Julius Caesar, who remade the calendar. Now, he wasn't the one who added in January and February. That was King Numa Pompilius many years previous, who sadly never got a month named after him. No, Julius’s big contribution was changing the calendar from 355 days, with an occasional leap month to keep it in sync with the seasons, to 365 days with an occasional leap day to keep it in sync, which is a much better system. He possibly got the idea for a 365 day calendar from the Egyptians who had been using one for at least 3,000 years at that point.
Regardless, after he died, Marco Antony named a month after him. And August is named after Julius's successor, Augustus, who decided he deserved a month named after him as well. Subsequent rulers tried to do the same, but none of those names stuck.
Now, September through December are the number months. Sept means 7, Octo means 8, Novem 9, Decem 10. But why not label them the ninth month, tenth month, 11th month, 12th month? Because, as I mentioned earlier, the months used to begin with March, so originally those labels were correct, and we haven't changed the system in two thousand years, because you get used to it.
So, in summary, it's named after five roman gods, one roman festival, two Roman leaders, and four number names that don't actually correspond to the months they're in.
It's a good system.