Birthstones by Each Month: Chart, Meanings and History

The list of birthstones by each month that most jewelers use today is barely a century old, but it rests on a far older idea: that twelve stones could stand for the twelve parts of a year. This guide starts with the modern chart, then goes through each stone’s look, its traditional meanings and how people wear it. After that come the history, the reasons some months have two or three options, the zodiac question, and practical advice on choosing your own stone and looking after it.

Birthstones by Each Month: The Modern Chart

The chart below follows the current American list, which most birthstone jewelry is made to. Next to it are the older traditional stones used from roughly the fifteenth century into the twentieth, so you can see how much the birthstones by each month have changed.

Britain sorts its birthstones by each month a little differently, under a standard first set by the National Association of Goldsmiths in 1937 and revised since then. The UK version keeps aquamarine and bloodstone for March, and adds rock crystal (the old name for clear quartz) as an April option, chrysoprase for May, carnelian for July, lapis lazuli for September and citrine for November. For December it lists tanzanite with turquoise, and for October it names opal alone.

Neither list is the “true” one. Trade bodies agreed on both, and both reflect the tastes of whoever was in the room. If a stone from the older column appeals to you more than the modern pick, history is on your side.

January to June Birthstones and Their Meanings

For each stone below you’ll find its appearance, the meanings it carries in crystal traditions and folklore, and the ways people tend to use it. These meanings are beliefs that have been handed down and reshaped over centuries. Nobody has measured them, and the journal’s editorial approach explains how we treat them.

January: Garnet

January’s entry is the simplest of the year. Every version of the list, from the old European ones to today’s, gives garnet and nothing else. Most January jewelry uses deep wine-red garnet, which can look almost black until light passes through it. In crystal traditions garnet stands for constancy, friendship and commitment, and older folklore treated it as a stone for travelers to carry. Many people wear it every day as a ring or pendant, a small reminder of the people and promises that matter to them.

February: Amethyst

Amethyst ranges from pale lilac to deep grape violet. In the journal’s library it belongs to the quartz family, along with citrine and agate. It is one of the best-loved stones in crystal practice and is believed to encourage calm, clarity and a quieter mind. People often keep an amethyst cluster (a group of crystals growing from a shared base) on a desk or bedside table. Others hold a tumbled piece (a stone smoothed and polished in a rotating barrel) while they meditate. Older lists also gave February hyacinth and pearl.

March: Aquamarine and Bloodstone

Aquamarine is a clear, pale blue to blue-green stone named after seawater. Folklore ties it to sailors, safe passage and quiet courage. Its color leads many crystal traditions to link it with the throat chakra, which yoga-derived practice describes as one of seven energy centers along the body, associated with honest, clear speech. Our guide to throat chakra stones covers that idea in more depth. Bloodstone, the older March stone, is dark green with red flecks and is traditionally associated with courage and steadiness. The 1912 American list put bloodstone first. The 1952 revision swapped the two, and that is why aquamarine leads today.

April: Diamond

Diamond is the clear, brilliant April stone, and its meanings are the ones you would expect: lasting love, strength and clarity of purpose. The UK list also offers rock crystal, described in detail in our clear quartz guide. Rock crystal has a softer, glassier shine than diamond. People who want a clear April stone to hold during meditation, rather than to wear, often choose it.

May: Emerald

Emerald is the rich green of new leaves. Tradition connects it with spring, renewal, growth and love, and it has been the May stone on nearly every list for centuries. Older European lists paired it with agate, and the UK list adds chrysoprase, an apple-green stone with a milky glow. Emerald is mostly worn as jewelry, while chrysoprase and agate are popular as tumbled stones to carry in a pocket.

June: Pearl, Moonstone and Alexandrite

June has the widest choice of any month. Pearl, with its soft inner luster, is linked in folklore with purity, the moon and calm reflection. Moonstone shows a floating blue or white shimmer, and the library places it with the Moon and light stones. Many people associate it with intuition, cycles and new beginnings. Alexandrite, added in 1952, is known as a color-changing gem, so tradition has made it a stone of change and adaptability. If you were born in June, you can choose by mood: pearl for something classic, moonstone for something dreamy, alexandrite for something unusual.

July to December Birthstones and Their Meanings

The second half of the year holds some of the most famous gems on the chart. It also holds some of the most often revised entries.

July: Ruby

Ruby is a vivid red, from pinkish to deep crimson, and many traditions treat it as the stone of passion, courage and devotion. Older lists gave July turquoise and onyx. The UK list adds carnelian, an orange-red stone from the quartz family that people often carry as a tumbled piece for confidence.

August: Peridot, Spinel and Sardonyx

August has three official stones. Peridot is a bright olive to lime green and is linked with light, warmth and optimism. Sardonyx is a banded stone with layers of reddish brown and white. It is the oldest August stone and is traditionally associated with strength and steady relationships. Spinel joined the list in 2016 as a third choice, a reminder that the list is still being edited.

September: Sapphire

Sapphire is best known in deep blue and has long been tied to wisdom, loyalty and truth. In crystal traditions it stands for clear thinking and keeping your word. The old European lists gave September chrysolite. The UK list adds lapis lazuli, an opaque royal blue stone scattered with gold-colored flecks and long associated with wisdom and inner truth.

October: Opal and Tourmaline

Opal is admired for flashes of shifting color that change as the stone turns. It is associated with creativity, imagination and emotional openness. Pink tourmaline joined the American list in 1952, and today the list simply says tourmaline. In crystal practice, tourmaline is linked with balance, compassion and protection. Older lists paired October with aquamarine.

November: Topaz and Citrine

Topaz is usually pictured as a warm golden orange and carries meanings of warmth, friendship and generosity. Citrine, added in 1952, is a sunny yellow member of the quartz family associated with optimism and abundance. People like to keep it on a desk or near the front door. Older lists also gave November pearl.

December: Turquoise, Zircon and Tanzanite

Turquoise is an opaque sky blue to green-blue stone and one of the oldest stones of protection and travel in folklore. Zircon replaced lapis lazuli on the American list in 1952. It is valued for its bright sparkle and for its link with clarity. Tanzanite, a violet-blue stone, was added in 2002 and is often associated with transformation and fresh perspective. The older lists gave December bloodstone and ruby.

How Were Birthstones Chosen?

The story begins with the twelve stones set into the breastplate of the high priest Aaron in the Book of Exodus, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. In the first century, the historian Josephus linked those twelve stones with the twelve months and the twelve signs of the zodiac. The ancient stone names have always been hard to translate, and Josephus himself gave two different versions of the list.

Christian writers built on the idea. St. Jerome suggested that the twelve foundation stones of the New Jerusalem, described in the Book of Revelation, would be a fitting set for Christians. In the eighth and ninth centuries, religious writers paired particular stones with particular apostles. A custom grew up of owning all twelve stones and wearing each one in its month.

Wearing a single stone for your own birth month is much more recent, and historians disagree about where it started. One view places it in eighteenth-century Poland, another in Germany in the 1560s. In 1870 a set of anonymous poems pairing each month with a stone appeared in a jeweler’s pamphlet, and the poems helped settle the English-speaking tradition.

The modern list of birthstones by each month became official in August 1912, when the American National Association of Jewelers met in Kansas City and adopted a standard list. Arranging birthstones by each month in one fixed list was new, and it has been revised several times since:

• 1937: Britain’s National Association of Goldsmiths sets its own standard list.
• 1952: the Jewelry Industry Council of America adds alexandrite for June, citrine for November and pink tourmaline for October. It also replaces December’s lapis lazuli with zircon and swaps March’s primary and alternative stones.
• 2002: tanzanite is added for December.
• 2016: spinel is added for August.
• 2021: Japanese industry associations add ten new stones to their national list.

So birthstones were chosen partly through ancient scripture and its many translations, partly through medieval devotion, and largely by the jewelry trade. At least one historian has dismissed the 1912 list as more marketing than tradition. That doesn’t make the stones any less meaningful to wear. It only means their meaning comes as much from the people who wear them as from the past.

Why Do Some Months Have More Than One Birthstone?

If you compare charts of birthstones by each month from different places, the extra stones can be confusing. There are a few plain reasons for them:

• Old and new lists overlap. Stones that held a month for centuries, like bloodstone in March or sardonyx in August, stayed on as alternatives when newer favorites took the lead.
• Translations varied. The ancient names in the breastplate passage have been read in many ways, so different traditions ended up with different stones.
• Revisions tend to add. The changes since 1952 have mostly added stones rather than removed them, so months gain options over time.
• Countries keep separate lists. The American, British and Japanese standards don’t match exactly.

A worked example: a family birthstone ring

Say you want a ring with stones for three children born in March, August and December. The primary stones give you aquamarine, peridot and turquoise: pale transparent blue, bright green and opaque sky blue. Two blues with different textures can look unbalanced side by side. Swapping in alternatives changes the whole feel. Bloodstone, sardonyx and tanzanite make a darker, earthier set, while aquamarine, peridot and tanzanite keep everything transparent and bright. All of these are real birthstones, so you can choose by color, texture and meaning instead of following one chart.

Are Birthstones Based on Zodiac Signs?

Modern birthstones follow calendar months, not star signs, although both ideas go back to Josephus linking the breastplate stones with the months and the zodiac. There is a separate traditional set of zodiac stones, and it often disagrees with the birthstones by each month. Each sign spans two months, so your zodiac stone and your month stone can be quite different.

If astrology is what draws you in, our guide to crystals for each star sign goes further.

Other birth stone traditions

Hindu tradition takes a different approach. It links gemstones with the Navagraha, the nine celestial forces that include the planets, the Sun and the Moon, rather than with months. Together the nine stones are called Navaratna, meaning “nine gems”. An astrological chart is drawn up at birth, and particular stones are recommended according to where those forces stood at that moment.

There is also a set of stones for the days of the week: topaz or diamond for Sunday, pearl or crystal for Monday, ruby or emerald for Tuesday, amethyst or lodestone for Wednesday, sapphire or carnelian for Thursday, emerald or cat’s eye for Friday, and turquoise or diamond for Saturday. Some people wear the stone for the weekday they were born on as a quieter companion to their month stone.

How to Choose and Wear Your Birthstone

Knowing the chart of birthstones by each month is only the start. Here is a simple way to settle on a stone you’ll actually enjoy:

1. Read your month’s full entry. Start with the primary stone, then look at the modern alternatives and the older traditional stones for the same month.
2. Pick a meaning. Notice which meaning comes closest to what you want the stone to remind you of. A September birthday might lean toward sapphire for loyalty or lapis lazuli for inner truth.
3. Decide on the form. Jewelry keeps the stone with you all day. A raw stone (left in its natural, unpolished shape) shows the crystal as it came out of the ground. A tumbled stone is smooth and easy to carry. A cluster or a geode (a hollow rock lined with crystals) makes a striking piece for a shelf.
4. Think about daily wear. Rings take more knocks than pendants or earrings, so ask a jeweler whether your stone suits a ring you’ll wear every day.
5. Give it a role. Many people hold their birthstone for a few minutes of meditation on their birthday, keep it on a nightstand as part of a calming evening routine, or set it by the front door as a small welcome.

A worked example: a December birthday

Someone born in December has turquoise, zircon and tanzanite to choose from on the American list. For a sturdy everyday stone to carry in a pocket, tumbled turquoise fits the protective, traveling side of its folklore. For a sparkling pendant to wear on special occasions, zircon suits. To mark a big change, such as a move or a new job, tanzanite’s link with transformation gives the gift a story. That’s three very different choices from the same month.

If you’d rather begin with a raw or tumbled piece than finished jewelry, Spirit Magicka, the journal’s own crystal shop, is one place to start browsing.

Caring for Birthstones and Mistakes to Avoid

Sorting birthstones by each month says nothing about how tough they are, and the twelve differ a great deal. Gem guides measure scratch resistance with Mohs hardness, a scale from 1 for the softest minerals to 10 for the hardest, and these stones sit at very different points on it. A few simple habits suit almost all of them:

• Wipe stones with a soft, dry or barely damp cloth after wearing them.
• Store each piece separately in a soft pouch so harder stones can’t scratch softer ones.
• Keep jewelry away from perfume, cleaning sprays and harsh chemicals.
• Don’t soak stones in water unless you’ve confirmed that your particular stone can take it, and skip crystal waters and elixirs altogether. The risk to the stone, and to you, isn’t worth it.
• Keep small tumbled stones and loose gems out of reach of young children and pets, who may swallow them.
• For fine jewelry, ask a jeweler to clean the piece and check the setting now and then.

Common mistakes

• Thinking there is one right answer. Many of the birthstones by each month come with alternatives, and the older stones are just as legitimate.
• Mixing up zodiac and month stones. A Capricorn born in January has garnet as a month stone but ruby as a traditional zodiac stone.
• Treating meaning as a guarantee. A birthstone is a symbol and a personal reminder. It is never a substitute for medical or mental-health care.
• Choosing by name alone. Check that a stone suits how you plan to wear it before you commit to a ring.
• Water-cleansing every stone. Gentle dry methods are the safe default for a mixed collection.

Charts that sort birthstones by each month are a starting point, not a rulebook. Once you’ve found your stone, the library is a good next stop. You can browse the full crystal library, the Earth treasures section for stones like garnet, ruby and turquoise, or our companion page on birthstones by month, with chart and meanings. And when you’re ready to hold a stone of your own, Spirit Magicka is the journal’s own crystal shop.