Birthstones
The birthstone for each month, its colours, and where the modern list comes from.
A birthstone is the gem linked with a month of birth. The list most American jewellers use today goes back to one adopted by the American National Retail Jewelers Association, now Jewelers of America, at its convention in Kansas City in August 1912.
- January birthstone: garnet
- February birthstone: amethyst
- March birthstones: aquamarine and bloodstone
- April birthstone: diamond
- May birthstone: emerald
- June birthstones: pearl, moonstone and alexandrite
- July birthstone: ruby
- August birthstones: peridot, spinel and sardonyx
- September birthstone: sapphire
- October birthstones: opal and tourmaline
- November birthstones: topaz and citrine
- December birthstones: turquoise, tanzanite and zircon
How the modern list has changed
Jewelers of America has updated the 1912 list three times, National Jeweler reported in 2016: in 1952, adding alexandrite, citrine, tourmaline and zircon; in 2002, adding tanzanite for December; and in 2016, adding spinel for August. So several months now have two or three birthstones.
Traditional and modern lists
Before 1912 there was no single list. The International Gem Society traces the traditional list best known in the United States to Poland, between the 16th and 18th centuries. George Kunz, writing in 1913, noted that some of the 1912 changes, such as moving ruby to July and turquoise to December, simply returned to the order of that Polish list, but he objected to the new schedule as a whole: he warned against letting the interest of dealers decide which stone belonged to which month.
Sources
- The Curious Lore of Precious Stones, by George Frederick Kunz, 1913, J. B. Lippincott (Project Gutenberg edition)
- The Jewelers' Circular, 14 August 1912, Vol. 65, no. 2, The Jewelers' Circular Publishing Company (Internet Archive scan)
- JA, AGTA Add Spinel as August Birthstone, National Jeweler, 2 June 2016, National Jeweler
- Birthstone Chart: Modern and Traditional Birthstones, International Gem Society
Last reviewed September 27, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research
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