November 26 is a relatively rare birthday in these historical U.S. records. It ranks #354 of 366 dates, where #1 means most common. Its 211,935 recorded births account for 0.247% of the 1994 through 2014 total, or about 1 in 404 recorded births.
It can be Thanksgiving, but it is not Thanksgiving every year. In the separate SSA window from 2000 through 2014, November 26 was the holiday only in 2009. The low birthday rank combines holiday and non-holiday years, so it needs more context than a Thanksgiving label.
November 26, beside other birthdays
Average recorded births each time a date occurred, 1994 through 2014.
- Commonness rank
- 354 / 366
- Share of recorded births
- 0.247 %
- Recorded births
- 211,935
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 November 26 and compare with a friend →Where does November 26 sit among nearby birthdays?
November 26 sits in a cluster of low-ranking late-November birthdays. November 27 has fewer recorded births, while November 28 has slightly more. November 21, included as a comparison outside the possible Thanksgiving dates, has a much higher total.
| Date | Recorded births | Commonness rank | Birth share |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 21 | 244,132 | 76 | 0.285% |
| November 22 | 224,885 | 336 | 0.262% |
| November 25 | 210,021 | 357 | 0.245% |
| November 26 | 211,935 | 354 | 0.247% |
| November 27 | 205,164 | 359 | 0.239% |
| November 28 | 212,951 | 353 | 0.248% |
Every November date occurred 21 times in the 1994 through 2014 baseline. November 26 averaged 10,092.1 births per occurrence. The November birthday guide shows the complete month ranking.
When is November 26 Thanksgiving?
Thanksgiving is the fourth Thursday in November. That puts it somewhere from November 22 through November 28. For November 26 to be Thanksgiving, the date must fall on Thursday.
In the SSA series, the 2009 holiday occurrence had 6,864 recorded births. Nearby Thursdays one and two weeks either side averaged 12,706. The difference for that year was -46.0%.
That is one year's comparison. For a holiday result based on every actual Thanksgiving across the window, use the Thanksgiving birth study. Following the holiday and following November 26 answer different questions.
What happens in years when November 26 is not Thanksgiving?
The other 14 November 26 occurrences averaged 10,637.6 recorded births. Their nearby same-weekday comparison averaged 11,291.6, a difference of -5.8%.
Some of those dates still fall within Thanksgiving week. November 26 was the Friday after Thanksgiving in 2004 and 2010, and the Wednesday before it in 2003, 2008, and 2014. Excluding the holiday itself does not exclude its neighboring days.
| Year | Weekday | Recorded births | Nearby mean | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Sunday | 7,950 | 8,024.8 | -0.9% |
| 2001 | Monday | 11,732 | 11,895.5 | -1.4% |
| 2002 | Tuesday | 13,377 | 12,905.5 | +3.7% |
| 2003 | Wednesday | 12,069 | 12,874.3 | -6.3% |
| 2004 | Friday | 9,370 | 12,792.3 | -26.8% |
| 2005 | Saturday | 7,848 | 8,364 | -6.2% |
| 2006 | Sunday | 7,585 | 7,588.5 | -0.0% |
| 2007 | Monday | 13,192 | 13,007.5 | +1.4% |
| 2008 | Wednesday | 12,242 | 13,039 | -6.1% |
| 2009 | Thursday | 6,864 | 12,706 | -46.0% |
| 2010 | Friday | 8,689 | 12,340.8 | -29.6% |
| 2011 | Saturday | 7,512 | 7,920.5 | -5.2% |
| 2012 | Monday | 12,403 | 12,078.5 | +2.7% |
| 2013 | Tuesday | 13,211 | 13,007.8 | +1.6% |
| 2014 | Wednesday | 11,747 | 12,243.5 | -4.1% |
The annual table compares each November 26 with November 12, November 19, December 3, and December 10 of the same year. All five share a weekday. Negative percentages mean November 26 had fewer births than its nearby weekday average.
There are also years when November 26 is above the comparison. A low aggregate rank does not mean the fixed date falls below nearby weekdays every year. Its place relative to Thanksgiving changes with the calendar.
Does Thanksgiving cause the low November 26 rank?
These daily counts cannot establish that. They do not identify scheduled deliveries, hospital staffing, or the reasons for a birth date. A nearby-weekday comparison reduces the influence of weekday differences, but it does not separate every holiday-week or seasonal pattern.
The Thanksgiving occurrence has a larger gap than the pooled comparison for other years. But with only one November 26 Thanksgiving in this source window, we cannot tell how consistent that holiday difference would be across more years.
Sources and how to use the numbers
The ranking comes from U.S. birth records compiled by FiveThirtyEight: CDC/NCHS for 1994 through 1999, then SSA for 2000 through 2014 without overlapping years. The annual analysis uses SSA alone. The sources have different administrative coverage, explained in the methodology.
The share is a proportion of these recorded historical births, not a worldwide rate, a prediction for a pregnancy, or a count of people alive with this birthday. Compare the full calendar in the rare-birthday ranking, or use the birthday checker for another date.
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