Who has your sameday birthday?

Why is it that we think it special to have the same day of birth as someone else? Such as with a family member, a celebrity, a person of great accomplishments or a historical figure? And if you would believe it, I’ve learned that some people claim they share birthdays with fictional characters. Fortunately, I have never heard of anyone linking themselves to the birthdays of Donald Duck or King Kong.

Where does this fascination with sameday birthdays come from? One fact became apparent. For this phenomenon to “stick,” the births have to be on the same calendar day. Not the following nor the previous day. Even if the time difference between the two days was only seconds.

One of my daughters was born on the first of November, my wife on the third. A granddaughter was born on April 16th. My brother on the 17th. So, none of them get credit or bragging rights for sameday birthdays.

However, my first grandchild and I were born on July 12th. I proudly tell others that fact. Occasionally, I will also tell them of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator, also born on July 12th. As you may know Julius was done in by Brutus and his Senate pals on the 15th of March, 44 BC. That fatal day is the basis for the expression “Beware of the Ides of March.”

What I rarely share with others is the dread I feel every March 15th. That goes back to my time in school when I first read Shakespeare’s play, “Julius Caesar.” My past falls short of reigning over an empire as Julius did. But on the 15th of March every year, I am extra careful about what I do and where I go.

So, to learn more about this sameday birthday fascination, I went on the internet and spoke with others. The online information available was overwhelming. The bottom line is that sharing the same birthday is statistically more probable than one might expect. There are, after all, only 365 days in each year and almost 8 billion people worldwide.

I then phoned a Weston resident I had worked with on a local committee years ago. She repeated what I recalled her once telling me about the special relationship she had with her father. She said, “My dad felt a joy I can’t explain because we were both born on February 9th. We jointly celebrated that day each year. And my mother made it extra special by having two cakes instead of one for the two of us. That remembrance is imprinted in my memory.” She added, “I think my sister was jealous.”

A sociology professor I met just after college added, “I had a cousin I knew since childhood, but we were not particularly close. Then we discovered we had the same birthday. Because of that we became closer, sharing birthday and holiday cards and dinners. This all struck me as very nice because my wife and I had in a more meaningful way access to a larger family.”

And yet another person said, “It’s hard to explain the feeling I get because my son was born on my birthday. It’s wonderful. I also get a special sensation when I learn a celebrity or a famous historical person I admire, has the same birthday as me.” He paused and then added, “It’s okay to be associated with a Mother Teresa but I wouldn’t tell anyone my birthday was the same as Genghis Khan or Ivan the Terrible.”

My sociology colleague added, “Most of those in my profession would say that having the same birthday ties people together — it can link them socially and even emotionally. Humans are fundamentally social creatures, and they need to have links with each other. Otherwise, they go nuts. So, having the same birthday can tie people to each other…and makes them both happier…in many cases.”

The world has weightier issues to contend with beyond my sameday birthday musings. My colleague’s reference to social linking makes sense. Perhaps there are other reasons for this sameday birthday fascination. What I do know is that I am fortunate to often learn new things just by digging for less than obvious connections.