Althouse: Happy birthday to the 2 people in our family who have birthdays on the same day.

June 2, 2011

Happy birthday to the 2 people in our family who have birthdays on the same day.

Do you have a co-birthdayist in your immediate circle? What's that like for you?

Of course, everyone has celebrities born on their birthday. For example, born today, were the Marquis de Sade... and Cornel West!

85 comments:

Known Unknown said...: My dad 4/2. Me 4/3. My brother 4/5. My grandfather was 4/12.

We Davises apparently have a lot of fun around July.; 6/2/11, 9:55 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: Big Joe's wife is celebrating her birthday today!

Big Joe is one of my closest music collaborators.

And, now, I must suffer through an hour long (at least) conference call in which we will sort through the minutia of fonts and colors. The MC will be an Indian guy, and I can't understand a word he says.; 6/2/11, 9:57 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: We Davises apparently have a lot of fun around July.

In our family, it seems to be March. We've got birthdays on 12/5, 12/23 (3 birthdays that day), 12/25, and 12/29.; 6/2/11, 9:58 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Today is my mom's birthday. Yay mom.; 6/2/11, 10:03 AM
Tank said...: My wife and her brother were born on the same day a couple of years apart. My wife did not appreciate it at all, except that it makes it easy to remember her brother's birthday.

Like a lot of others, I was born about a week from Christmas, so I got a lot of "one gift for both." I didn't enjoy that either.

Of course, as you get older, it makes no difference (either one); 6/2/11, 10:05 AM
edutcher said...: I went to college with a guy born the same day as me and we all know Ann shares her birthday.

Today is also the day the Civil War really ended.; 6/2/11, 10:06 AM
Fred4Pres said...: It is sadism to expose us to Cornel West. Don't do it.; 6/2/11, 10:07 AM
traditionalguy said...: My son and I share the same day, which comes up this Friday. Now that he is independent we usually give one another golf equipment. But before he got married his birthday party with his many young friends was like Sarah Palin coming to town... it took all of the air out of the room.; 6/2/11, 10:07 AM
Lincolntf said...: No familial co-birthdayists and my celeb/famous people co-'s are not great. I'll have to look for a few more. (I've got a First Lady and a Monkee.); 6/2/11, 10:08 AM
Scott M said...: My 18-month-old and 3-year-old have birthdays within two days of each other, Oct 27th and Oct 29th. My sense is that, as they get older, we're going to start having combined birthday parties with a Halloween theme.

I wonder what that will create in the way of childhood memories when all of your birthdays are in costume.; 6/2/11, 10:09 AM
Anonymous said...: Two very strange occurences.
1. Back in the 70's I dated and was engaged to a girl who shared the same birth and year date with me. Also, we were babies in bassinets next to each other in the same hospital.
2. My current girlfriend was born on the same day and in the same hospital that my mother died in and on. There is a ten year age difference between us. Cue the tune "Spooky" by the Classic IV.; 6/2/11, 10:09 AM
kelly ploon said...: My only daughter (have 4 boys as well) was born on my birthday in 2007. She is such a gift and love that the day has become hers.
Love your blog!; 6/2/11, 10:11 AM
kjbe said...: My 2-year old great-niece and I share a birthday...and I have a sister whose is 2 days after mine.

What's it like for me? It's very easy to remember to send cards or b'day wishes to them. What can I say?; 6/2/11, 10:11 AM
Richard Dolan said...: A brother and a sister born on the Ides of March, six years apart. Neither of them cared much for Latin.; 6/2/11, 10:12 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: My step mother and her oldest daughter (blood sister on my father side) were both born on April 25.; 6/2/11, 10:15 AM
madAsHell said...: Sooooo....Ann has interests outside of politics.

Sometimes, I am compelled to comment by the word verification.

w/v: noids - I know, this would have been more appropriate on the spelling bee thread.; 6/2/11, 10:15 AM
PatHMV said...: I was my grandmother's first grandchild, and born on her birthday. We were always very close, my whole life.; 6/2/11, 10:16 AM
DADvocate said...: Oct 11. My sister, a brother-in-law and a neice's two oldest children all born on Oct. 11. My neice's chidren aren't twins either. They were born two years apart.; 6/2/11, 10:16 AM
Leland said...: I have twins. Then again, I grew up with my Mom and Great Aunt having the same birthday (June 1st, just celebrated). Also, wife was born 12/25; add that she is a RN, so half her birthdays she works.; 6/2/11, 10:17 AM
NMP said...: - My mom and her brother, same day, one year apart.
- My son and my brother
- My other son and my brother's daughter (also one year apart)
Neither of my boys was a scheduled birth intended to coincide with their respective relative. In fact my second son had been scheduled for the following day, specifically to coincide with another cousin's birthday, that cousin was very disappointed.
And my mom, my son, my nephew and my niece are all within 4 days of each other.; 6/2/11, 10:19 AM
DADvocate said...: April - May is real heaving in my family, too. Brother 4/13, other brother 4/18, daughter 4/20, me 4/25, grandfather 4/26, daughter 5/7, sister 5/9, plus my two ex-wives were 4/17 and 5/4.; 6/2/11, 10:19 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: I forgot to add: 2 birthdays on 12/5, not one.; 6/2/11, 10:21 AM
Shanna said...: My uncle's bday is the day after mine. My mom was induced so she planned specifically so we wouldn't have birthday's on the same day.

There was a little boy in my class in elementary school with the same birthday. We used to have joint parties and my mom would bring pink cupcakes and his mom would bring blue.; 6/2/11, 10:21 AM
Peder said...: My wife and I are nearly co-birthdayists. She is 364 days younger than me so we have exactly one day when we're the same age. We're both pretty happy with this set up. We have one joint birthday celebration and we're done.; 6/2/11, 10:21 AM
Scott M said...: We have one joint birthday celebration and we're done.

Only one joint between the two of you for a birthday celebration? Who bogarts more?

WV - "anthousn"; 6/2/11, 10:23 AM
NMP said...: OK, I just re-read my comment and realized that it sounds weird to schedule a birth specifically to coincide with someone's birthday just for fun. It wasn't like that, it was going to be on a day around then, so on that day plus or minus one, so I picked that day because of his cousin.
Though you all probably don't care, it just sounded odd to me.; 6/2/11, 10:26 AM
Doug said...: My brother was born on my 2nd birthday. I wanted a wagon, though. Seriously, my brother and I have made a tradition of our shared birthday that now includes family, friends, sons and nephews, lots of golf, cigars, beers, and even hand-embroidered commemorative hats every year.; 6/2/11, 10:27 AM
MaggotAtBroad&Wall said...: My sister's daughter gave birth to quads. The quads were born on my sister's birthday.

In other words the grandmother (my sister) shares her birthday with her quadruplet grandchildren.; 6/2/11, 10:34 AM
Clyde said...: My niece was born a year ago, and she missed being born on my 50th birthday by less than eight hours. My other brother Kurt was in town to help me celebrate the Big Five-Oh along with my Dad, but Karl was otherwise detained up in New York awaiting little Maya, who arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon. I was glad that she didn't have to share her birthday with her grizzled old uncle. My other niece was born five days before my 30th birthday, making her almost exactly twenty years older than her cousin.; 6/2/11, 10:36 AM
Dad said...: My brother's wife was expecting a baby around the time of my birthday. She said, "I hope it's not on *his* birthday, because I want him to have *his own* birthday." My nephew was born the day after my birthday. Every few years, she would hold his little kid parties *on my birthday.* I had no problem with that but always wondered if she saw the irony. (My nephew is a fine young man now and I'm happy to remember his birthday better than my other nieces and nephews.); 6/2/11, 10:40 AM
MadisonMan said...: If you have 57 randomly-chosen people, and if it is equally likely for anyone to be born on one day during the year as any other day, then you almost always (99% of the time) have 2 people who share a birthday.; 6/2/11, 10:51 AM
Scott M said...: Why did you pick 57, MM? One for each state?; 6/2/11, 10:54 AM
traditionalguy said...: I know a friend whose son was born on my birthdate, but is 40 years younger. He has come to get advice and help from me on his problems. He has become a good man today, but it always surprises me to realize that I am 40 years older than he is. His grandfather, who died 4 years ago, was also my best friend.; 6/2/11, 10:57 AM
Patrick said...: I dated a girl who was born on the same day as I.; 6/2/11, 10:59 AM
TMink said...: I do have people with the same birthday. My 8 year old triplets. It makes every Oct 24th quite the party. We did have four people, but my mother in law has died. Still her birthday though.; 6/2/11, 11:00 AM
Anonymous said...: No co-birthday-ist now that I know of, though in elementary school there were two kids in my class that shared my birthday.

Peter; 6/2/11, 11:02 AM
edutcher said...: Scott M said...

?Why did you pick 57, MM? One for each state?

Then it would be 60.; 6/2/11, 11:02 AM
Geoff Matthews said...: I have two nieces born on my birthday, one on my wife's side and one on my side.
The one on my side is adopted, and it was a semi-open adoption. My sister met the mother and spoke with her. The bio-mom told her (after the birth) that she had a brother who was born the same day as her daughter (my niece) which seemed like a huge coincidence.; 6/2/11, 11:05 AM
sonicfrog said...: My Mom and my little brother both share the same B-Day.... He was the worst birthday present she ever got!!!! :-)

(just kidding); 6/2/11, 11:07 AM
Anonymous said...: I've actually never met a single person who shared my birthday. Even when I was working as a cashier and waitress, and had to check ID's regularly, none of them ever had the same birthdate (not even counting the year) as I do.

Strange.

I do, however, love the collection of famous people who share my birthday, which includes Dolly Parten, Edgar Allen Poe, and Robert E. Lee. And sometimes it falls on Martin Luther King Day, which is a nice bonus.

- Lyssa; 6/2/11, 11:09 AM
Triangle Man said...: ?Why did you pick 57, MM? One for each state?

Ha ha!

If there were two people the probability that they did not share a birthday would be 364/365=99.7%. With three people, the probability that any two do not share a birthday is 364/365 * 363/365 = 99.2%. Continue to 57 people and you reach about 1%.; 6/2/11, 11:11 AM
chuck b. said...: "If you have 57 randomly-chosen people, and if it is equally likely for anyone to be born on one day during the year as any other day, then you almost always (99% of the time) have 2 people who share a birthday."

Haha This is a common problem in probability classes. Part B asks you to weight the probabilities to account for the fact that IRL people are *not* equally likely to be born on any day of the year. And to account for leap years!

I just ran the R code for n=60.

for (n in 1:60){
q=1-(0:(n-1))/365
p[n]=1-prod(q)}
plot(p)

> p[57]
[1] 0.9901225

There is a 0.990122459 probability that 2 people share a birthday in a group of 57 randomly chosen people, under the conditions MM described.

:); 6/2/11, 11:18 AM
Aggle said...: My Dad and one of my nieces were born on Oct 26.

My Father-in-law and another of my nieces were born on October 23.

But the big one is... one of my sisters, another niece, and my youngest daughter were all born on December 10.; 6/2/11, 11:20 AM
sakredkow said...: My wife's mother shares a birthday with my brother.

My mother shares a birthday with my wife's sister.; 6/2/11, 11:21 AM
Scott M said...: There is a 0.990122459 probability that 2 people share a birthday in a group of 57 randomly chosen people, under the conditions MM described.

You, sir, need to get laid, asap.

lol; 6/2/11, 11:22 AM
DADvocate said...: And to account for leap years!

I have a cousin born on Feb. 29.; 6/2/11, 11:31 AM
m stone said...: AA has some of the most intelligent commenters on this blog, but this string is totally stupid IMHO.; 6/2/11, 11:32 AM
DADvocate said...: My father, sister and brother were all born on the 13th of a month. Always thought that was kind of weird.; 6/2/11, 11:33 AM
chuck b. said...: Do I get bonus points for being the first person to drop some R code in the Althouse comments??; 6/2/11, 11:36 AM
Chris said...: Our family seems to have an affinity for the number 21. My brother and I were born 2 years apart on Sept 21, My wife & I married on June 21. My oldest son was born Aug 21. Two years later, my next son was born on Aug....25. Breaking the mold has been a common pattern for him.; 6/2/11, 11:42 AM
Perezoso said...: Ahh one of Miss A's weekly "nesting blogs", meant to keep the mormon-zionist clique togetha. with pointless intro-stats from egghead-X.

How online conservative gangs work.; 6/2/11, 11:46 AM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: My first wife and I had the same birthday, 12/19. 'Nuff said.; 6/2/11, 11:48 AM
Lamar said...: I was born on the same day as Anna Nicole Smith. Seemed like the perfect ice-breaker, but alas...; 6/2/11, 11:48 AM
Rube said...: My wife was born on May 31st, she shares birthdays with Bob Hope and JFK. My two grandkids were born on the same day, July 26th six years apart.; 6/2/11, 11:53 AM
traditionalguy said...: Perezoso...Where does one join a Mormon-Zionist Clique. Could that be a Mitt the Romnoid For President clique?; 6/2/11, 12:00 PM
Irene said...: I shared a birthday with my two previous dogs.

I also share a birthday with Nancy Reagan and George W. Bush.; 6/2/11, 12:06 PM
Crunchy Frog said...: My birthday is four days before my dad's.

In an office of 190 people, there are two others people at work that share my birthday.; 6/2/11, 12:14 PM
Meade said...: Bummer for anyone born 4/20, 12/18, or 12/26.

Lucky Rush Limbaugh that he has such a cool birthday mate (January 12, 1951).; 6/2/11, 12:20 PM
edutcher said...: You know how to keep the wife smiling, sir.

Perezoso said...

Ahh one of Miss A's weekly "nesting blogs", meant to keep the mormon-zionist clique togetha. with pointless intro-stats from egghead-X.

Looks like J figured out how to open a second ID.; 6/2/11, 12:25 PM
Meade said...: I was born at 1:00 am. Later that same day, Lucy is tired of just reading the society columns. She yearns for a glamorous life of her own. After mistakenly donating $500.00 to her rich high-school pal, Lucy and Ethel pose as "Women from Mars" to earn the money. Herb Vigran guest stars.; 6/2/11, 12:31 PM
Meade said...: ps: I was born loving poodles. My first dog - a black standard named "Pepper."; 6/2/11, 12:34 PM
VanderDouchen said...: 7 immediate family members born in October. Go figure,

WV: censi:

you gotti no censi.; 6/2/11, 12:39 PM
Irene said...: "Pepper" is a great name for a poodle.; 6/2/11, 12:42 PM
MadisonMan said...: My first dog - a black standard named "Pepper."

Mine was a dalmatian, but also named Pepper.

Ran across the street at the wrong time, and that was that.; 6/2/11, 12:44 PM
kimsch said...: I was born on Fathers' Day (June 17th) and every six or eleven years my birthday falls on Fathers' Day again. It will next year. It was the Queen's Birthday a few years ago (the date the UK celebrates, not her actual birthday which is in April). I share my birthday with MC Escher, Newt Gingrich, Mohammed El Baeredai, the former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, Erin and Diane Murphy (Tabitha Stephens from Bewitched), Venus Williams, Barry Manilow, Greg Kinnear, Jason Patric, Thomas Hayden Church, Bobby Farrelly, Mark Linn Baker, Ralph Bellamy, Joe Piscopo, Kimber Eastwood (Clint's daughter), James Shigeta, George Clinton, Kami Cotler (the Waltons - Goodnight Elizabeth), Will Forte (SNL), and more.

Arnold Vosloo (The Mummy) was born the day before I was.

My husband's birthday is exactly three weeks after mine. He shares his birth day and year with Kevin Bacon.

My youngest child was born the day before his sister's (my oldest) 10th birthday and two days before his great-grandma's 96th birthday. November 18th, 19th, and 20th.

I have two people (cousin in law and 1st cousin once removed) born June 14th. My aunt and uncle and cousin all have birthdays Thanksgiving week: November 22nd, 23rd, and 28th.; 6/2/11, 12:53 PM
Meade said...: Grandpa raised cattle. His horses were all working horses. His dogs were all working dogs and they were all named "Tip."; 6/2/11, 12:59 PM
kimsch said...: Irene - your birthday is two days short of three weeks after mine.; 6/2/11, 1:39 PM
Irene said...: kimsch--Happy Early Birthday!; 6/2/11, 3:01 PM
mccullough said...: My son was born September 11, 2001.

Freeman, sounds like your family loves March Madness.; 6/2/11, 3:07 PM
S. said...: Its my sons birthday today too. My husband, my Aunt and my niece all share 10/3.; 6/2/11, 3:09 PM
vnjagvet said...: My brother was my third birthday present on March 10, 1943. When we were kids, we always had a joint party; one year I got to ask the majority of attendees and the next he got to do that. It worked out very well for us.; 6/2/11, 3:31 PM
Mickey said...: I love June and I think anyone is lucky to have a June birthday. Mine is on the 27th, the same as Helen Keller, who said, "life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all."; 6/2/11, 3:41 PM
kimsch said...: Irene: Happy Early Birthday to you too!

wv: monwoo; 6/2/11, 4:06 PM
Jenny said...: My Mother was one of six, three of them were born on the same day; the oldest, the youngest and one in the middle.; 6/2/11, 4:27 PM
Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...: It requires only 23 people to have a 50% probability of a shared birthday. You don't really want to see the calculations, do you?

Not only do I share a birthday with my brother-in-law, we each were trained as geologists.; 6/2/11, 5:08 PM
Jose_K said...: My wife postponed her c section to avoid the cobirthday of my only nephew and our daughter. She was set to take the place of her and was set to do it in her birthday; 6/2/11, 6:46 PM
Jose_K said...: We Davises apparently have a lot of fun around July
We around March , carnival or holy week ,and Christsmas . Many were born in december and the rest in september; 6/2/11, 6:52 PM
Ralph L said...: I share a birthday with my great uncle, 70 years apart. He was a pharmicist and died experimenting with mercury drugs on himself in 1914 (so my grandmother said). I suspect he had VD (he had a motorcycle).

My mother and her brother married people born on Oct. 13, a year apart. They're the two still living.; 6/2/11, 6:58 PM
Irene said...: This is not a shared birthday story. It's a shared anniversary story.

When we married, my husband and I exchanged our grandparents' wedding rings. He got the ring of my maternal grandfather, and I got his maternal grandmother's ring.

My husband took his grandmother's wedding ring to be engraved with our wedding date, June 3, 1989.

We were surprised to see that his grandmother's wedding ring already had a date engraved. It was June 3, 1917.

*chills*; 6/2/11, 7:30 PM
Anonymous said...: My women has the same birthday as Althou.se.

One year later.

Meaningless, unless you consider that the reason I was drawn to Althou.se is that she thought and wrote just like my mother.

Further, I could WeinerHack Althouse and post a pic of her replacing her for Althouse and most wouldn't notice. Read Ann for 2 years before I noticed.

I've said too much...; 6/2/11, 9:38 PM
Beldar said...: My older son, Kevin (now 23), was approaching his fifth birthday. My ex and I were expecting our third, Adam (now 18). My ex very much wanted to have her regular OB/GYN deliver Adam, but the OB/GYN (who had been a med school classmate of my ex) had an unbreakable obligation approaching, for which she'd have to leave town for several days right in the middle of our expected due-day window. To avoid having a stranger do the delivery, then, we all decided we'd trigger a delivery, i.e., induce labor, at the beginning of that full-term delivery window. And we had a couple or three days to choose from.

So we asked Kevin for his input; in fact, we told him that we'd abide by his decision. Did he want to share a birthday with his younger brother, or have separate birthdays? We explained how they'd always be almost exactly five years apart anyway, but if Kevin chose, they could always have the same birthday. We talked about the downsides -- less attention, basically, for one's own birthday if one has to share it.

Kevin decided he wanted to be "special brothers" with Adam so they could always be best friends.

And they are.; 6/2/11, 10:00 PM
Snark said...: I, my father, and my father's grandfather all share the same birthday.; 6/2/11, 11:05 PM
Linda Seebach said...: My son was born on my mother's birthday (about a week earlier than expected) but she died when he was only three months old and never got a chance to co-celebrate.; 6/3/11, 4:13 AM
jaed said...: I also share a birthday with Nancy Reagan and George W. Bush.

Irene and I seem to be birthday-mates!; 6/4/11, 1:22 AM
sarasue said...: My step moms bday is 3-18. her first born grandsons daughter was born 2 yrs ago on her bday. Now 2 yrs later her great grandson was also born on her bday. What are the odds I wonder? LOL!!; 3/25/12, 8:10 PM