The 34th day of the year
Born on 3 February
Every 3 February birthday from 1920 to 2026 was Aquarius, in every time zone.
- Star sign
- AquariusAir, fixed, ruled by Saturn.
- Birthstone
- AmethystThe same as on the 1912 list.
- Birth flower
- Violet, PrimroseUsually taken today to mean faithfulness and young love.
- Most common weekdays
- Tuesday and Friday16 times each between 1920 and 2026.
Where the two new years meet
3 February is where the two Chinese new years come close together. The lunar new year, which this site uses, fell here in 1954, the Wood Horse, 1973, the Water Ox, and 2011, the Metal Rabbit, and falls here next on 3 February 2030, the first day of the Metal Dog. Lichun, the solar term that opens spring and the Tiger's solar month, fell on 3 February in Beijing in 2017, 2021 and 2025, the first times since 1920 it has come this early.
The difference matters because bazi, the four pillars method of Chinese fortune-telling, changes the year at Lichun rather than at the new year, and this site follows the calendar. In 2021 the new year waited until 12 February, so a birth late on 3 February 2021, after Lichun had passed, belongs to the Metal Rat of 2020 by the calendar and to the Metal Ox by bazi.
In all, 3 February came before the new year in 60 of the 107 years from 1920 to 2026 and on or after it in 47. It was Aquarius in every one of them, in every time zone.
Your year
Without JavaScript, the pages for each birth year give the generation and Chinese animal for a birth on 3 February in any year.
Which Chinese animal, by year
From 1920 to 2026 the lunar new year, reckoned in Beijing, came after 3 February in 60 of the 107 years, and in those years a birthday on it belonged to the animal of the year before; in the other 47 the new year had already begun. It was the first day of the new year itself in 1954, 1973 and 2011.
Shaded: 3 February came before that year's new year. Hatched: the new year began on 3 February. How the new year is found →
Which weekday 3 February falls on
Across the 107 years from 1920 to 2026, 3 February falls on every day of the week: Tuesday 16, Friday 16, Thursday 15, Saturday 15, Sunday 15, Wednesday 15, Monday 15.
Showing 3 February in the 36 most recent years. Every weekday →
How common a birthday 3 February is
In England and Wales, from 1995 to 2014, an average of 1,778 babies were born on 3 February in each year of the twenty, making it the 290th most common of the 366 dates, where 26 September came first with 1,974 and 26 December last with 1,359.
Office for National Statistics, How popular is your birthday? Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. What a ranking like this can and cannot say →
Born on 3 February
| Name | Years | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Felix Mendelssohn | 1809–1847 | German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of Jewish descent |
| Alvar Aalto | 1898–1976 | Finnish architect and designer |
| Simone Weil | 1909–1943 | French philosopher, writer, and social activist |
| Gertrude Stein | 1874–1946 | American author |
| Joachim Löw | 1960– | German footballer and manager |
| Paul Auster | 1947–2024 | American novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter |
| Elizabeth Blackwell | 1821–1910 | American physician, abolitionist, women's rights activist |
| Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury | 1830–1903 | British politician and prime minister |
| Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo | 1948– | Roman Catholic bishop from East Timor |
| Henning Mankell | 1948–2015 | Swedish writer, human rights activist and dramatist |
| Georg Trakl | 1887–1914 | Austrian poet |
| Isla Fisher | 1976– | Australian actress and author |
| Antonio José de Sucre | 1795–1830 | Venezuelan general and politician |
| Carl Theodor Dreyer | 1889–1968 | Danish film director |
| Risto Ryti | 1889–1956 | President of Finland |
| Daddy Yankee | 1976– | Puerto Rican rapper and actor |
| Joan Capdevila | 1978– | Spanish footballer |
| Amal Clooney | 1978– | British-Lebanese barrister and human rights lawyer |
Died on 3 February
| Name | Years | Known for |
|---|---|---|
| Woodrow Wilson | 1856–1924 | 28th President of the United States (1913–1921) |
| Umm Kulthum | 1904–1975 | Egyptian singer and actress |
| Murad II | 1404–1451 | sixth Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1421–1444, 1446–1451) |
| Buddy Holly | 1936–1959 | American rock and roll singer |
| Jean-Baptiste Biot | 1774–1862 | French scientist |
| Ernst Mayr | 1904–2005 | German-American evolutionary biologist |
| Swein Forkbeard | 963–1014 | King of Denmark, England, and Norway |
| Émile Borel | 1871–1956 | French mathematician and politician |
| John of Gaunt | 1340–1399 | English magnate of the House of Plantagenet |
| Joe Alaskey | 1952–2016 | American actor |
| Maria Schneider | 1952–2011 | French actress |
Names are the titles of the English Wikipedia articles; years and the short descriptions are from Wikidata, which publishes under CC0, checked and corrected by hand where they needed it, and nothing is said about anybody beyond that. Ask for a removal.