Is March 17 a rare birthday? Ordinary
Rarer than 50% of all 366 dates.
St. Patrick's Day is an ordinary mid-March birthday in the US records, not a holiday dip.
St. Patrick's Day in numbers
The odds, the star sign and the other dates that come with it.
Where March 17 ranks
From most common birthday to rarest, March 17 ranks in position #184, with 10,797 births a year. 183 other dates are more common. 84 dates are within 1% of its count, anywhere from #149 to #233, so the exact position is a close thing.
March 17 through the years
Where it ranked in the United States, year by year.
common
March 17 in other countries
March 17 is the 183rd rarest birthday in the United States. It is among the 50 rarest in 6 of the 26 other countries, and ranges from #42 in Brazil to #363 in Ireland.
Brazil
#42 of 366
8,566 births on an average March 17
DATASUS, 1997–2024Peru
#70 of 366
1,250 births on an average March 17
INEI, 2019–2025Hungary
#87 of 366
335 births on an average March 17
KSH, 1970–2020Argentina
#122 of 366
1,580 births on an average March 17
DEIS, 2018–2023Chile
#142 of 366
694 births on an average March 17
DEIS, 1990–2017Belgium
#165 of 366
328 births on an average March 17
Statbel, 1992–2025Ecuador
#175 of 366
765 births on an average March 17
INEC, 2013–2023Switzerland
#177 of 366
224 births on an average March 17
FSO, 1969–2025Norway
#195 of 366
155 births on an average March 17
SSB, 2011–2025Latvia
#200 of 366
54 births on an average March 17
CSB, 1996–2025New Zealand
#259 of 366
155 births on an average March 17
Stats NZ, 1980–2023Finland
#274 of 366
137 births on an average March 17
Statistics Finland, 2010–2025Portugal
#278 of 366
289 births on an average March 17
INE Portugal, 1980–2025Germany
#285 of 366
1,945 births on an average March 17
Destatis, 2014–2025Mexico
#286 of 366
4,819 births on an average March 17
INEGI, 2017–2023England & Wales
#306 of 366
1,748 births on an average March 17
ONS, 1995–2025Japan
#306 of 366
2,693 births on an average March 17
e-Stat, 1996–2025Slovenia
#308 of 366
50 births on an average March 17
SURS, 2000–2025Malaysia
#310 of 366
1,353 births on an average March 17
DOSM, 2000–2022Denmark
#311 of 366
156 births on an average March 17
Statistics Denmark, 2007–2025Guatemala
#318 of 366
905 births on an average March 17
INE Guatemala, 2018–2024Netherlands
#319 of 366
480 births on an average March 17
CBS, 1995–2025Costa Rica
#329 of 366
159 births on an average March 17
INEC Costa Rica, 2014–2024France
#344 of 366
2,043 births on an average March 17
INSEE, 1998–2024Philippines
#357 of 366
3,994 births on an average March 17
PSA, 2006–2024Ireland
#363 of 366
138 births on an average March 17
CSO, 1980–2023
Famous people born on St. Patrick's Day
Ranked by how often people looked them up on Wikipedia last year.
GrimesCanadian musician · born 1988
Rob LoweAmerican actor · born 1964
Pattie BoydEnglish model and photographer · born 1944
HozierIrish musician · born 1990
Claressa ShieldsAmerican boxer · born 1995
Jim BridgerAmerican explorer · born 1804
Stephen GatelyIrish pop singer · born 1976
Dana ReeveAmerican actress and singer · born 1961March against the other eleven
March 17 is the 2nd most common of the 31 days in March. All March birthdays.
March is the 6th rarest month of the year
An average March day sees 10,658 births in the United States. September is the busiest month, January the quietest.
Quick answers
Is St. Patrick's Day a rare birthday?
No. St. Patrick's Day sits in the middle of the US calendar. It is a cultural holiday, not a day hospitals empty the way they do at Christmas.
How many babies are born on March 17?
About 10,797 a year in the United States. It was at its most common in 1992, when 12,486 babies were born and it ranked #45 of 366; at its rarest in 1974, with 7,226 births at #347.
Is March 17 a common birthday?
In the United States, March 17 is the 183rd rarest of 366 dates, with about 10,797 births a year. That makes it an ordinary birthday: neither rare nor especially common.
What is the rarest March birthday?
In the United States, March 13: the 22nd rarest of all 366 dates, with about 10,340 births a year. The most common March birthday is March 1, the 147th most common of the year.
How precise is the ranking?
In the middle of the calendar it is not exact. 84 other dates are within 1% of March 17's count, spread from #149 to #233, so the position inside that group would shift with a different set of years. That band is the accurate answer; the rank is the simple one. At the ends — Christmas Day, New Year's Day — nothing is close.
Is March 17 rarer in other countries?
In some. It is rarer in 18 of the 26 other countries we hold daily records for. It is at its rarest in Ireland, at #363 of 366, and at its most common in Brazil, at #42.
How this is counted
Every date is ranked by how many babies are born on it in the United States. Live births by day of birth from the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics, 1989–2024.
Updated October 2026