Why Is November Called November? The Ninth Month Story

November is the eleventh month of the year. So why does its name mean "ninth"? It's one of those everyday puzzles hiding in plain sight, and the answer takes us back almost 3,000 years to ancient Rome, a calendar with only ten months, and a New Year's Day that used to fall in March.

Here is the real story of November's name, why September, October and December are "wrong" too, and some fun facts about the month that just began.

A medieval illuminated manuscript page for November showing a swineherd knocking down acorns to feed pigs in an oak forest, with the zodiac above — November in the famous medieval book of hours "Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry": a swineherd knocks acorns down for his pigs. Photo: Jean Colombe, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

November Comes From the Latin Word for Nine

The name comes from Latin novem, meaning "nine." You can still see that root in English words like novena, a nine-day prayer. In the same way:

September comes from septem, seven.
October comes from octo, eight (as in octopus and octagon).
November comes from novem, nine.
December comes from decem, ten (as in decimal and decade).

So why are they all two places off? Because in the earliest Roman calendar, they were exactly where their names say.

The Roman Calendar Had Only Ten Months

According to Roman tradition, the city's first calendar, credited to Rome's legendary founder Romulus, had ten months and began in March. The months ran: Martius (March), Aprilis, Maius, Iunius, Quintilis ("fifth"), Sextilis ("sixth"), September, October, November and December. With March as month one, November really was month nine.

That calendar covered only about 304 days. The cold winter period after December, when there was little farm work to do, simply wasn't assigned to any month.

January and February were added later

Roman tradition says the second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, added two new months, Ianuarius (January) and Februarius (February), to fill the winter gap and bring the year closer to the real length of the seasons. Historians debate exactly when and how this happened, but by the time of the Roman Republic, the year had twelve months.

Moving New Year's Day to January

For a long time, important parts of Roman life still started in March. Then, in 153 BC, Rome began having its consuls, the top officials, take office on January 1. Over time, January 1 became the start of the civil year. Months 1 and 2 were now January and February, which pushed September, October, November and December to positions 9, 10, 11 and 12. But the old names stayed.

When Julius Caesar reformed the calendar in 46 BC (creating the Julian calendar, the ancestor of the one we use today), he kept the month names. The only changes that lasted were two renamings in honor of rulers: Quintilis became July for Julius Caesar, and Sextilis became August for Emperor Augustus.

Emperors who tried to rename November

Some later emperors tried to put their own names on more months. The most extreme was Commodus, who renamed all twelve months after his own names and titles. Those names were abandoned after his death in AD 192. November survived them all.

What Other Languages Call November

Many European languages use a version of the Latin name: noviembre in Spanish, novembre in French and Italian, November in German. But others describe what the month feels like:

Polish and Czech: listopad, "falling leaves."
Finnish: marraskuu, often explained as the "month of the dead," as nature appears to die in late autumn.
Croatian: studeni, from the word for "cold."
Old English: Blōtmōnaþ, "blood month" or "sacrifice month," because animals were slaughtered before winter. The scholar Bede recorded the name in the 8th century.
India: traditional Hindu calendars are lunisolar, so November usually overlaps the months of Kartika and Margashirsha, the season of Diwali.

The Hidden Meanings of the Other Months

Once you know November's secret, the rest of the calendar starts to make sense too. Every month name in English comes from Latin, and most are named after gods, festivals or numbers:

January is named after Janus, the two-faced Roman god of doorways and beginnings, who looks back at the old year and forward to the new one.
February comes from Februa, a Roman festival of purification held in the middle of the month.
March honors Mars, the god of war. It was the first month of the old Roman year, when the weather allowed armies to march again.
April is the mystery month. Some link it to the Latin aperire, "to open," as buds open in spring; others connect it to Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love.
May is usually linked to Maia, a goddess of growth, and June to Juno, queen of the gods and protector of marriage.
July and August are the two months named after real people, Julius Caesar and Augustus.
That leaves September to December, the "number months," still counting from a March New Year that ended more than 2,000 years ago.

It's a little like how US time zones were shaped by the railroads: once a system is in daily use, its odd old labels tend to stick around for centuries.

Fun Facts About November

November always starts on the same day of the week as March. There are exactly 245 days (35 weeks) between March 1 and November 1, so in 2026 both started on a Sunday. In years that aren't leap years, February starts on that same weekday too.
November has 30 days, as in the old rhyme: "Thirty days hath September, April, June and November."
Its birthstones are topaz and citrine, and its traditional flower is the chrysanthemum.
The zodiac signs are Scorpio (until about November 21) and Sagittarius.
In the Southern Hemisphere, November is late spring, not autumn, so in Australia it marks the start of beach season.
It's the month the US changes back to standard time. In 2026 that happened on November 1, and the leaves are near the end of their show; here's why leaves change color in fall.

Big Dates in November 2026

November 1: All Saints' Day, and daylight saving time ends in the US.
November 3: Election Day in the US (the midterm elections).
November 5: Guy Fawkes Night in the UK. Read why Bonfire Night is celebrated.
November 6 to 10: Diwali, the festival of lights, with the main day on November 8.
November 11: Veterans Day in the US and Remembrance Day in the UK, Canada and the Commonwealth.
November 26: Thanksgiving in the US. Here's why Thanksgiving is always on the fourth Thursday.
November 27: Black Friday.

November is full of fun food days too. Also read: National Sandwich Day: The Real Story of the Earl of Sandwich.

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