Not in these historical U.S. records. November 8 sits near the middle of the 366-date ranking. It ranks #154 of 366 dates by total births from 1994 through 2014. Rank #1 means most common.
November 8 had 235,792 births across 21 occurrences, or 11,228 births per occurrence. That is 0.275% of the 85,712,738-birth sample, or about 1 in 364 recorded births.
Within November, November 8 ranks ninth of 30 dates.
Does November 8 differ from nearby same-weekday dates?
It depends on which controls we use. In SSA 2000–2014, the primary comparison gives -1.5%. With only the 7-day controls, the result is -1.4%. With only the 14-day controls, it is also -1.4%.
The sign changes when we keep the holiday controls. Most of the primary difference comes from 2010–2014. These results do not show clearly that November 8 has more or fewer births than nearby dates.
In the primary comparison, November 8 was above its controls in four years and below them in eleven.
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 November 8 with controls from the same year.
| Comparison | Years | Control observations | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 and 14 days, holidays excluded (primary) | 15 | 57 | -1.5% |
| 7 days only | 15 | 30 | -1.4% |
| 14 days only | 15 | 27 | -1.4% |
| 7 and 14 days, no holiday exclusions | 15 | 60 | +1.0% |
How were the comparison dates chosen?
The primary controls are October 25, November 1, November 15, and November 22 in the same year. Each is 7 or 14 days from November 8, so it falls on the same weekday.
In some years, a planned control falls on Thanksgiving 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 -1.5% to +1.0%. Holiday controls usually have fewer births in these records, so including them makes November 8 look higher.
By five-year period, the primary differences are -0.4% for 2000–2004, -0.2% for 2005–2009, and -3.7% 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 November 8 rank change over time?
Yes. We ranked 365 recurring dates by SSA births in each five-year period. November 8 placed #81 in 2000–2004, #250 in 2005–2009, and #100 in 2010–2014. The three ranks span 169 places.
The median span for all 365 recurring dates is 159 places. This span is close to that median.
Each period has only five occurrences of November 8. 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 November guide for the full month ranking. Compare the nearby November 11 and November 13 studies.
The methodology explains ranks and shares. Use the birthday checker to compare another date.