Leap Year Birthdays

Are you a Leap Year Baby? People born on February 29 (which heappens every 4 years) are known as "leaplings" and their birthday only comes around once every four years.

Many leaplings joke that they age at only one fourth as fast as everyone else. So a leapling born in 1967 may claim to be only 10 years old. And, by this logic, the eldest sibling would end up being younger (or at least having less birthdays) than his or her younger brothers and sisters.

The next time that your leapling friend or relative tries to rub it in that they are actually a lot younger than you, remind them that they won't be getting another birthday present until the next leap year four years later!

What Exactly is a Leap Year

The calendar has 365 days in it, but in fact the earth revolves around the Sun in exactly 365 days and 6 hours. This means that the calendar is actually falling behind by 6 hours every year and over time, the seasons would get shifted so that (over a very long period of time) you would have Spring starting on February and so on.

To correct this, the calendar creates an extra day in Febrary every four years. During a Leap Year, February has 29 days.

Because Leap Years happen every 4 years, and not that many people are typically born in February, being a leapling is quite rare. This site maintains an Honour Society of leap year babies.

Famous Leap Year Birthdays

Here are some people who were born on February 29.

1468 - Pope Paul III (d. 1549)
1692 - John Byrom, English poet (d. 1763) 
1736 - Ann Lee, American founder of Shakers (d. 1784) 
1792 - Gioacchino Rossini, Italian composer (d. 1868) 
1840 - John Philip Holland, Irish inventor (d. 1914) 
1904 - Jimmy Dorsey, American bandleader (d. 1957) 
1916 - Dinah Shore, American singer (d. 1994) 
1928 - Tempest Storm, American burlesque performer
1936 - Henri Richard, Canadian hockey player 
1940 - Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople 
1944 - Dennis Farina, American actor
1960 - Tony Robbins, American motivational speaker

Leap Year Trivia

• In the United States, Leap years match presidential election years but not in century years which are divisible by 400.



• The Olumpics also take place every 4 years, on Leap Years.



• There is a tradition, said to go back to Saint Patrick and Saint Bridget in 5th century Ireland, whereby women may make marriage proposals only in leap years. However this "tradition" may be a recent invention since the earliest recorded source is from the 19th century.