Is June 11 a rare birthday?

June 11 ranks #161 of 366 dates in historical U.S. birth records, 1994–2014. It is slightly below nearby same-weekday dates, but the evidence is weak.

Reviewed

Not in these historical U.S. records. June 11 sits near the middle of the 366-date ranking. It ranks #161 of 366 dates by total births from 1994 through 2014. Rank #1 means most common.

June 11 had 235,232 births across 21 occurrences, or 11,202 births per occurrence. That is 0.274% of the 85,712,738-birth sample, or about 1 in 364 recorded births.

It ranks #23 of the 30 June dates.

Does June 11 differ from nearby same-weekday dates?

June 11 has fewer births than its controls in the three comparisons with holiday exclusions. In SSA 2000–2014, the primary comparison gives -1.9%. These three comparisons range from -1.4% to -2.5%.

The comparison without holiday exclusions gives 0.0%, so we treat the result as weak.

In the primary comparison, June 11 was above its controls in two years and below them in thirteen.

Baseline ranks use historical U.S. CDC/NCHS and SSA records, 1994–2014. The percentage differences use SSA 2000–2014 alone. Each table row compares June 11 with controls from the same year.

June 11 births compared with same-weekday controls, SSA 2000–2014.
ComparisonYearsControl observationsDifference
7 and 14 days, holidays excluded (primary)1557-1.9%
7 days only1530-1.4%
14 days only1527-2.5%
7 and 14 days, no holiday exclusions15600.0%

How were the comparison dates chosen?

The primary controls are May 28, June 4, June 18, and June 25 in the same year. Each is 7 or 14 days from June 11, so it falls on the same weekday.

In some years, a planned control falls on Memorial Day. We remove that control under the standard observed federal holiday rules. The year keeps its other controls.

Without holiday exclusions, the result changes from -1.9% to 0.0%. Holiday controls usually have fewer births in these records, so including them makes June 11 look higher.

By five-year period, the primary differences are -0.5% for 2000–2004, -1.7% for 2005–2009, and -3.5% for 2010–2014.

To combine the years, we divide the summed target births by the summed annual control means. Then we subtract one and multiply by 100. The result is not an average of annual percentages.

Does the June 11 rank change over time?

Yes. We ranked 365 recurring dates by SSA births in each five-year period. June 11 placed #107 in 2000–2004, #282 in 2005–2009, and #128 in 2010–2014. The three ranks span 175 places.

The median span for all 365 recurring dates is 159 places. This span is above that median.

Each period has only five occurrences of June 11. It fell on a weekend twice in 2005–2009 and once in each other period. The period with more weekend occurrences has the less common rank.

These ranks use raw birth counts. The ranking-stability study also compares annual shares and weekday-relative scores for every date.

Sources and limits

Baseline totals and ranks use FiveThirtyEight’s pinned U.S. birth files. We use CDC/NCHS for 1994–1999 and SSA for 2000–2014, so no year comes from both sources. Annual comparisons use SSA alone.

The source series have different administrative coverage. These records do not describe worldwide births, everyone alive today, or current birth rates.

The daily totals do not record delivery methods or scheduling decisions. Weekday matching does not remove every seasonal difference. Federal holiday rules identify calendar dates, not hospital schedules.

Use the June guide for the full month ranking. Compare the nearby June 21 study.

The methodology explains ranks and shares. Use the birthday checker to compare another date.