130 Fun Facts About Happy Birthday

The tune of 'Happy Birthday to You' was originally published in 1893 as a classroom song called what?

Kindergarten teachers Patty and Mildred Hill of Louisville, Kentucky, wanted something small children could sing easily; the birthday words were attached later.

Per Guinness (1998), which song is the second most recognised in English after 'Happy Birthday to You'?

The birthday song's basic words have been translated into at least 18 languages.

Which publisher refunded $14 million in 2016 after its copyright claim on 'Happy Birthday to You' was voided?

The 2015 ruling found the registration covered only a piano arrangement, not the words and melody, so the song is now public domain in the US.

In the European Union, the copyright on 'Happy Birthday to You' expired on the first day of which year?

EU terms run 70 years from the author's death; Patty Hill, the last surviving sister, died in 1946.

Marilyn Monroe famously sang 'Happy Birthday' to President Kennedy in May 1962 at a gala held where?

It was 10 days before his actual 45th birthday; Kennedy joked he could now retire from politics after being sung to 'in such a sweet, wholesome way'.

How many rhinestones were sewn into the sheer dress Marilyn Monroe wore to sing to JFK?

She wore nothing underneath and had to be sewn into it; the dress sold for $4.8 million in 2016 and Kim Kardashian wore it to the 2022 Met Gala.

Which Canadian billionaire bought Marilyn Monroe's 'Happy Birthday' dress for $4.8 million in 2016?

It had already fetched over $1.26 million at a New York auction in 1999, then a record for a dress.

Stevie Wonder released 'Happy Birthday' in 1981 to campaign for a national holiday honouring whom?

It came from the album Hotter than July, and the holiday was signed into law in 1983.

The Beatles' song 'Birthday' opens the third side of which 1968 double LP?

Mostly McCartney's work, it was largely written on the spot in the studio on 18 September 1968; he and Ringo played it for Ringo's 70th at Radio City.

'In da Club', the go-to birthday party rap track, was the debut single of which artist in 2003?

Produced by Dr. Dre and Mike Elizondo, it became his first Billboard number one and won Best Rap Video at the 2003 VMAs.

The birthday cake with one candle per year of age is generally traced to 18th-century celebrations where?

At Count Ludwig von Zinzendorf's 1746 party the cake was 'as large as any oven could be found to bake it', with a candle in each hole and one in the middle.

One theory says ancient Greeks lit candles on cakes to honour which goddess's birth each lunar month?

Round cakes and glowing candles were thought to echo the moon, her symbol; the Romans occasionally served cakes at special birthdays too.

What was the 18th-century German children's birthday celebration from which candles on cakes are traced?

Goethe described one such candlelit cake at a party in Gotha in August 1801.

How many people need to be in a room for there to be a better than 50% chance that two share a birthday?

It feels wrong because you are not comparing everyone to you, but every pair to each other: 23 people make 253 pairs.

Someone born on 29 February is commonly nicknamed a what?

In ordinary years they celebrate on 28 February or 1 March, and technically they have far fewer birthday anniversaries than years.

Which Texas town declared itself the 'leap year capital of the world' in 1988?

It sits on the New Mexico state line and throws a multi-day festival every four years.

Which saint, per Irish legend, got St Patrick to let women propose on 29 February?

Patrick supposedly offered one day every seven years; she talked him down to every four, and a refusing man owed gloves, a silk gown or, later, a fur coat.

Between 1973 and 1999, which date was the most common birthday in the United States?

Births peak in September and October in the US, and New Zealand shows the same peak, which points to holiday conceptions rather than winter weather.

What is Korea's traditional first-birthday celebration, where a baby picks an object, called?

Thread or noodles mean long life, money means wealth and a brush or book means scholarship; Baek-il is the 100-day feast that comes earlier.

Koreans traditionally eat miyeok-guk, a seaweed soup, on the day they were born, to honour whom?

New mothers eat the same soup for months after childbirth, so eating it on your birthday thanks her for having you.

Which food is a traditional Chinese birthday dish, symbolising a long life?

Rice wine is another classic gift, because in some dialects the word for it sounds like the word for 'long-lasting'.

A quinceañera celebrates a girl's birthday at what age?

The girl typically wears a tiara; the tradition blends Spanish Catholic custom with Aztec coming-of-age rites and 19th-century French court fashion.

Fairy bread, an Australian and New Zealand party staple, is buttered white bread covered in what?

The first known mention of the name is from the Hobart Mercury in 1929, describing a party for children in a sanatorium.

A traditional Mexican piñata has a certain number of points. What are they said to represent?

The pot stands for evil and the sweets inside for temptation; the Spanish first used piñatas for evangelism at Acolman in 1586.

Which annual London ceremony marks the British sovereign's official birthday?

It has marked the official birthday since 1748; Edward VII kept it in early summer because his real birthday was in November.

The British sovereign's official birthday was first marked in 1748 for which monarch?

Since 1959 the UK observance has been fixed on a Saturday in early June, chosen for the odds of decent weather.

Why did Queen Beatrix keep the Dutch national holiday on Queen Juliana's date, 30 April, rather than her own?

Beatrix was born on 31 January; the holiday moved again to 27 April when her son Willem-Alexander became king in 2013.

The North Korean holiday named the Day of the Sun in 1997 celebrates whose birthday?

He was born on 15 April 1912, the same day the Titanic sank; his son's birthday is the Day of the Shining Star.

Since 1971 the US federal holiday for Washington's Birthday has been observed on which day?

The Uniform Monday Holiday Act created the three-day weekend, which means the holiday can never actually fall on the 22nd.

In the Torah, the only birthday celebration mentioned is that of whom?

It appears in Genesis 40:20, and its association with pagan rulers is one reason Jehovah's Witnesses do not celebrate birthdays.

Which ancient people, per Herodotus, prized birthdays above all days, the rich roasting a whole ox or camel?

One of the Roman Vindolanda tablets, from Hadrian's Wall, is a birthday-party invitation from one officer's wife to another.

In Commonwealth countries, people receive a card from the Royal Family on their 100th birthday and then every year from which birthday onward?

Applications go through the Anniversaries Office at Buckingham Palace, which also sends cards for 60th wedding anniversaries.

The 1912 list that standardised modern birthstones was adopted at a jewellers' meeting held where?

One historian dismissed it as 'nothing but a piece of unfounded salesmanship'; tanzanite was added for December in 2002 and spinel for August in 2016.

Shakespeare's birthday is observed on 23 April, also the feast day of which saint?

His actual birth date is unknown; he was baptised on 26 April 1564 and died on 23 April 1616, so the tradition gives him a neat symmetry.

Which Swedish film star died on her 67th birthday, 29 August 1982?

She kept working with breast cancer for eight years, winning a final Emmy for A Woman Called Golda the year she died.

Elvis Presley and David Bowie share a birthday in which month?

Presley was born in Mississippi in 1935 and Bowie in Brixton in 1947; Bowie's final album Blackstar came out on his 69th birthday, two days before he died.

Elvis Presley was born in 1935 in which Mississippi town?

His identical twin Jesse Garon was stillborn 35 minutes before him; the family moved to Memphis when Elvis was 13.

In Tolkien's Middle-earth, The Lord of the Rings opens with Bilbo Baggins celebrating which birthday?

He calls it his 'eleventy-first'; Frodo turns 33 and comes of age the same day, and hobbits give presents away on their birthdays rather than receiving them.

Hobbits are considered to come of age on which birthday?

Useless old objects hobbits cannot bear to throw away are 'mathoms', and they get regifted for years.

In John Hughes's 1984 film Sixteen Candles, why does Samantha's family forget her birthday?

It was Hughes's directorial debut, and Molly Ringwald's Sam ends up sleeping on the sofa because her grandparents have taken her room.

Jeanne Calment, the oldest person whose age has been verified, reached how many birthdays?

Born in Arles in 1875, she lived 122 years and 164 days and was declared the oldest person in recorded history in 1995.

On what is a 'name day', celebrated in countries like Greece and Poland, based?

Sweden marks Karl on 28 January, the anniversary of Charlemagne's death; in pious families the two dates were often made to coincide.

By superstition, what must you do when blowing out birthday candles for your wish to come true?

In the Anglosphere the number of candles usually matches the age, sometimes with one extra for luck.

The word piñata probably comes from an Italian word meaning what?

Pignatta comes from pigna, pinecone; the tradition reached Europe in the 14th century before the Spanish carried it to Mexico.

A 'sweet sixteen' party is chiefly a tradition of which countries?

Sixteen is the age many Americans learn to drive and get first jobs, so it marks a kind of adulthood.

In the Philippines, the 'debut' is held for women at 18 and for young men on which birthday?

Japan's Coming of Age Day, by contrast, honours everyone who has turned 18 in one January ceremony.

A Jewish boy traditionally has his bar mitzvah on which birthday?

Girls have a bat mitzvah at 12, or 13 in Reform and Conservative congregations.

Japan's Coming of Age Day is held on which day each year?

The age of maturity was lowered from 20 to 18 by a law that took effect in 2022.

Under traditional East Asian age reckoning, how old was a baby considered on the day it was born?

South Korea only abolished 'Korean age' for official purposes in June 2023, knocking a year or two off everyone.

A 'Beddian birthday', named after a New York firefighter, falls when what happens?

Someone born in 1990 has a Beddian birthday in 2080, when they turn 90.

North Koreans born on July 8 or December 17 must celebrate on a different day. Why?

More than 100,000 people mark displaced birthdays on July 9 and December 18 instead.

On Gandhi's birthday, October 2, what closes across India in his honour?

Gandhi did not drink; the holiday is called Gandhi Jayanti.

One of the Vindolanda tablets, found at a Roman fort in northern England, is famous as what?

It is one of the oldest surviving pieces of writing by a woman in Latin.

In Ghana, children wake on their birthday to a treat called oto. What is it?

The party later features stew, rice and kelewele, fried plantain chunks.

Racehorses in the Northern Hemisphere all share the same official birthday. What is it?

In the Southern Hemisphere it is August 1, to match the breeding season.

Which scientist invented the rubber balloon in 1824 for laboratory use?

Party balloons today are mostly natural latex tapped from rubber trees.

The conical paper party hat has its origins in what?

The dunce cap was used from the mid-19th to the early 20th century.

Which US federal holiday marks a birthday on the third Monday of January?

Presidents' Day follows a month later on the third Monday of February.

The Chinese zodiac assigns an animal to each birth year in a repeating cycle of how many years?

The word for 'years old' in Chinese is different from the word for 'year', a relic of astrology tied to Jupiter's orbit.

Some studies suggest people are statistically more likely to die on which day?

Explanations range from heavy drinking and stress to people holding on for the milestone.

Luxembourg's Grand Duke has an official birthday typically celebrated on which date?

Monarchs' official birthdays need not match their real ones.

Which early Christian writer said believers should view birthdays 'with disgust' as pagan?

Early Christians considered celebrating anyone's birth a pagan custom.

Which Christian denomination does not celebrate birthdays, citing pagan origins?

They also note the negative light in which scripture presents them.

Iran celebrates Mother's Day on the birthday of which historical figure?

She was the daughter of Muhammad.

Which Italian communist leader was named Palmiro because he was born on Palm Sunday?

Names like Noel and Pascal similarly mark feast-day births.

What did the ancient Romans call a birthday?

The term is still used for institutional anniversaries.

What is the least common birthday in the US apart from February 29?

It's also the least common in New Zealand.

The ten most common US birthdays all fall within which thirteen-day window?

Holidays affect birth rates more than winter does.

Which date is sometimes used as a leapling's legal birthday in a non-leap year?

Local laws on counting time intervals decide.

Which two US sisters are traditionally credited with the 1893 tune Good Morning to All?

The claim that they composed the tune is disputed.

In which city was Patty Hill a kindergarten principal?

She introduced Good Morning to All to her class.

Which publisher registered a copyright on Happy Birthday to You in 1935?

Warner/Chappell later bought the owner for $25 million in 1988.

Until which year did Warner claim the US copyright on Happy Birthday would last?

A 2015 ruling found the claim covered only a piano arrangement.

Which documentary filmmaker sued Warner/Chappell over the song in 2013?

She had paid $1,500 to license it for a film about the song.

Which 1994 documentary paid $5,000 to safely use Happy Birthday to You?

Warner/Chappell earned $2 million a year licensing the song.

Roughly how much a year did Warner/Chappell earn licensing the song before the suit?

A federal judge voided the claim in September 2015.

Whose 1746 party at Marienborn is a notable early example of a cake with candles?

Romans occasionally served cakes at special birthdays too.

Who traditionally eats the first slice of cake at the party?

Balloons and streamers decorate Western parties.

In Israeli kindergartens, what is done with the birthday child's chair?

Plus one lift 'for the next year'.

What are 'the bumps' called in Scotland?

Birthday punches with one 'for luck' are given in French Canada and Australia.

In Brazil, Hungary and Spain, what birthday torment is traditional?

In Mexico and Venezuela the face gets pushed into the cake.

Where did the mass-produced birthday card first appear in the mid-19th century?

It came shortly after the first Christmas cards.

What treat lets summer-born children mark a six-month milestone at school?

It falls about six months from the real birthday.

In the sweet sixteen shoe ceremony, what does a male relative help the girl into?

She traditionally sits wearing flat shoes beforehand.

Which Mexican empress is credited with reinforcing the quinceañera ball tradition?

She was the granddaughter of Louis Philippe I of France.

What are the young men in a quinceañera's court called?

The young women are damas.

In Orthodox Judaism, at what age does a girl become bat mitzvah?

Boys become bar mitzvah at 13.

Which Korean god, guardian of children, receives an offering at a doljanchi?

The offering includes miyeok-guk, rice and pure water.

Japan lowered its age of majority to 18 under a law taking effect in which year?

Drinking and smoking are still allowed only from 20.

Coming-of-age ceremonies have been held in Japan since at least which year?

Genpuku involved changing to adult clothing.

In which Mexican town did the piñata tradition begin, per local records?

Piñatas were introduced there for catechism and to co-opt an Aztec ceremony.

Which historian linked Aaron's twelve breastplate stones to months and zodiac signs?

He gave two different lists of the twelve stones.

Which years are exceptions to the every-four-years leap rule?

So 2000 was a leap year but 1900 was not.

Since which year has Washington's Birthday been a federal holiday?

It is observed on the third Monday of February.

Lincoln's Birthday marks his birth on February 12, 1809, in which Kentucky town?

Only some states, such as Illinois and New York, observe it separately.

Martin Luther King Jr. was born on which date in 1929?

The holiday falls on the third Monday of January.

Where in London is Trooping the Colour held?

It is officially the Sovereign's Birthday Parade.

Where was the Buddha born, according to tradition?

An Ashoka Pillar from 249 BCE marks the site.

Which deputy of Saladin is believed to have first celebrated Mawlid publicly?

The Ottomans under Murad III made it an official holiday.

Krishna Janmashtami falls on the eighth day of the dark fortnight of which month?

Krishna is the eighth avatar of Vishnu.

In what year was Kim Il Sung's birthday renamed the Day of the Sun?

It had been an official holiday since 1968.

Which Japanese botanist bred the begonia Kimjongilia for Kim Jong Il's 46th birthday?

Kimilsungia, an orchid, is named for his father.

Bloomsday, 16 June, marks the date of Joyce's first outing with whom?

Ulysses is set on 16 June 1904.

When was the first Burns supper held?

Burns Night is now held on his birthday, 25 January.

Which crayon company did Hallmark buy in 1984?

Joyce Hall founded Hallmark in Kansas City in 1910.

Nine players of musical chairs start with how many chairs?

One chair is removed each round.

The earliest known Pin the Tail on the Donkey is dated to which year?

It is attributed to Kate Hunt.

Chinese longevity noodles, yi mein, owe their chewy texture to which ingredient?

They are fried and dried into flat bricks.

A Chinese longevity peach bun represents which mythical fruit?

They are served at elderly people's birthdays.

Which Dutch topping is similar to the hundreds and thousands on fairy bread?

Fairy bread is usually cut into triangles.

Which retailer sells the Colin the Caterpillar cake, introduced in 1990?

Over 15 million have been sold; 38 people assemble each one.

Jeanne Calment's verified lifespan was 122 years and how many days?

She is the only person verified to reach 120.

A supercentenarian has reached what age?

About one in 1,000 centenarians gets there.

How many living centenarians did the UN estimate worldwide in 2020?

That was almost four times the 2000 estimate.

Marilyn Monroe sang to JFK how many days before his actual 45th birthday?

His birthday was May 29; the gala was May 19, 1962.

Which 1938 song did Monroe follow Happy Birthday with, using new lyrics?

Arthur Krim and Anna Rosenberg co-hosted the gala.

Katy Perry's Birthday appears on which 2013 album?

Bonnie McKee, Dr. Luke, Max Martin and Cirkut co-wrote it.

Stevie Wonder's Happy Birthday was released from which 1980 album?

It was not released as a single in the US.

Which Scottish band's Happy Birthday reached number two in the UK in 1981?

Martin Rushent produced it.

Whose first full-length play was The Birthday Party, performed in 1958?

It is classed as a comedy of menace.

Which character in Through the Looking-Glass received an 'un-birthday present' cravat?

Alice first mistakes the cravat for a belt.

What is the 60th birthday called in Japanese?

It marks a full sexagenary cycle; Koreans say hwangap.

Which country originated the gender reveal party in the late 2000s?

It is distinct from a baby shower.

Sixteen Candles was the directorial debut of which filmmaker?

Molly Ringwald plays Samantha Baker.

Which 1998 event did the very first Google Doodle mark?

Page and Brin used it to signal they were away.

British monarchs have granted a list of awards on their official big day since at least which reign?

Honours have been handed out on the sovereign's birthday since at least 1860 under Queen Victoria; 1876 was a rare year with no list.

In the 2017 slasher Happy Death Day, who plays Tree Gelbman, murdered on her birthday on repeat?

The Blumhouse film cost $4.8 million and grossed $125.5 million; a sequel, Happy Death Day 2U, followed in 2019.

Japan's Shichi-Go-San festival for children aged three, five and seven is held on which date?

Children receive chitose ame, long red-and-white 'thousand year candy' in a bag decorated with a crane and a turtle for longevity.

A 2017 Clemson study found blowing out candles raised bacteria on cake frosting by roughly how much?

One of the researchers still described it as 'not a big health concern'.

What did Japan keep as 'Showa Day' after the death of the emperor whose birthday it was, April 29?

Emperor Showa (Hirohito) was born on April 29; the holiday falls close to Golden Week in late April and early May.