Day of the week
Thursday
“Thursday's child has far to go.”
Named for Thunor, matched to Jupiter — the Latin is dies Iovis, Jupiter's day — which is why the plate above is of Jupiter.
The line above is Thursday's from “Monday's Child” as it is usually printed today, as given in Iona and Peter Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (1951).
The rhyme was first printed by A. E. Bray in A Description of the Part of Devonshire Bordering on the Tamar and the Tavy (1836), and is older than that in speech. Her line for Thursday reads: “Thursday's child has far to go,”
In some printings this line and Wednesday's line trade places, so a version you find elsewhere may give the two the other way round.
This is folklore recorded from oral tradition, not a claim about anyone born on a Thursday.
Where the name comes from
The Old English name was þunresdæg, Thor's day. It contracted to þurresdæg, perhaps under the influence of the Old Norse þorsdagr, and that shorter form is the one that became Thursday. The name is a loan-translation of the Latin Jovis dies, the day of Jupiter, because the Roman Jupiter was identified with the Germanic Thor.
Word history from the Online Etymology Dictionary's entry for Thursday.
Which dates are a Thursday in 2026
53 dates fall on a Thursday in 2026.