January 8 is toward the less common end of the birthday ranking in these historical U.S. records. It ranks #343 of 366 dates, where #1 means most common.
There were 223,766 recorded January 8 births from 1994 through 2014: 0.261% of the selected sample, or about 1 in 383 recorded births. Its low pooled rank does not mean it consistently had fewer births than nearby dates falling on the same weekday.
January 8, beside other birthdays
Average recorded births each time a date occurred, 1994 through 2014.
- Commonness rank
- 343 / 366
- Share of recorded births
- 0.261 %
- Recorded births
- 223,766
Bars start at zero. Rank 1 means most common and uses total births across all 366 dates. The bars use births per actual occurrence; February 29 appeared five times, while the other dates appeared 21 times.
Check January 8 and compare with a friend →How does January 8 compare with other January dates?
January 8 has fewer recorded births than January 7 or January 24, but more than January 1. January 9 is close to January 8 in the overall ranking. The month contains several low-total dates, rather than a single isolated dip on January 8.
| Date | Recorded births | Commonness rank | Birth share |
|---|---|---|---|
| January 1 | 164,362 | 364 | 0.192% |
| January 7 | 230,233 | 254 | 0.269% |
| January 8 | 223,766 | 343 | 0.261% |
| January 9 | 224,116 | 339 | 0.261% |
| January 15 | 222,374 | 346 | 0.259% |
| January 24 | 233,021 | 200 | 0.272% |
January 8 occurred 21 times in the selected period, averaging 10,655.5 recorded births per actual occurrence. This is a historical average for the selected records, not the number of babies born on January 8 in a current year.
Use the January guide to compare all 31 dates. The rarest-birthday ranking compares the full year.
Does its low count repeat when weekdays match?
January 8 is not consistently lower in the nearby-weekday comparison. For each year in SSA 2000 through 2014, we compare January 8 with the available dates one and two weeks away that remain within the same calendar year. That means January 1, January 15 and January 22. All fall on the same weekday as January 8 in that year.
January 8 was above their average in all 15 years, with 11.1% more births across the combined comparison. But January 1 is one of the lowest-total birthdays in the data. Including it pulls down the comparison average, so this percentage should not be read as a large January 8 increase against an ordinary day.
Using only the available date two weeks away, January 22, leaves a much smaller pooled difference: +0.1%. This comparison excludes January 1, though it is limited to a later date rather than dates on both sides of January 8.
| Year | Weekday | Recorded births | Nearby mean | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Saturday | 8,934 | 8,821 | +1.3% |
| 2001 | Monday | 11,447 | 10,011 | +14.3% |
| 2002 | Tuesday | 12,515 | 10,885.7 | +15.0% |
| 2003 | Wednesday | 12,167 | 10,715 | +13.6% |
| 2004 | Thursday | 12,781 | 11,239 | +13.7% |
| 2005 | Saturday | 8,376 | 8,024.7 | +4.4% |
| 2006 | Sunday | 7,409 | 7,297 | +1.5% |
| 2007 | Monday | 12,315 | 10,532 | +16.9% |
| 2008 | Tuesday | 13,336 | 11,551.7 | +15.4% |
| 2009 | Thursday | 13,019 | 11,356.7 | +14.6% |
| 2010 | Friday | 12,183 | 10,837.7 | +12.4% |
| 2011 | Saturday | 7,840 | 7,653 | +2.4% |
| 2012 | Sunday | 6,887 | 6,781.3 | +1.6% |
| 2013 | Tuesday | 12,040 | 10,441.7 | +15.3% |
| 2014 | Wednesday | 11,829 | 10,579.7 | +11.8% |
The annual table uses January 1, January 15 and January 22 as its comparison dates. Its positive percentages do not mean January 8 has a high rank across the year. Rank compares it with all dates; the weekday comparison uses a small set of January dates. They answer different questions.
Why is January 8 relatively uncommon overall?
A pooled rank alone cannot identify the reason. Birth counts vary across the calendar, and each date falls on a different mix of weekdays over the years. Our weekday and weekend study explains that broader pattern.
For January 8, the evidence supports the rank and count but does not show a consistent shortage relative to nearby same-weekday dates. Here, January 1 makes a large difference to the average. The January 22 comparison offers a narrower check without that holiday.
Sources and what the counts cover
These results use daily U.S. birth records compiled by FiveThirtyEight: CDC/NCHS for 1994 through 1999 and SSA for 2000 through 2014. We exclude overlapping CDC years. The sources have different administrative coverage; the annual comparison uses only SSA.
Birth share divides January 8's count by all births in the selected records, including other months. The results describe historical U.S. births, not worldwide births, today's birth rates or everyone alive with this birthday. See the methodology for definitions, or use the birthday checker to compare January 8 with another date.
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