January

Vogue, January 15th 1919

I'm going to be doing a series of posts on all the months, focusing on names that are associated and inspired by said month, which for today, is January. January is the first month of the year, and is thirty-one days long. January was named after Janus, the Roman God of beginnings and doorways. He is normally depicted with two faces, which is why cats with Diprosopus, a rare congenital disorder where the person or animal has essentially multiple faces, are commonly referred to as "Janus cats".

The birthstone for January is the garnet, the flower is traditionally the pink carnation, but sometimes it is the galanthus or snowdrop. In China the flower is a plum blossom and in Japan, the camellia. The zodiac signs are Capricorn, the sea goat (a goat with the tail of a fish), and Aquarius, the water carrier Ganymede.

January in Other Languages: Janvier (French), Tammikuu (Finnish)
January as a Name: Januarius, Januaria, and of course, January
Flowers: Carnation, Dianthus, Galanthus, Snowdrop, Plum, Blossom, Camellia, Gillyflower (A name for the carnation)
Gems: Garnet, Almandine, Pyrope, Marjorite (The last three are all species of garnet)
Zodiac: Capricorn, Aquarius, Ganymede, Arwa ("Mountain goat"), Giles ("Young goat"), Jael ("Mountain Goat"), Mortimer ("Still water"), Tallulah ("Leaping waters"), Mayim ("Water")
First: Primo ("First"), Primrose ("First rose"), Winona ("Firstborn daughter"), Proteus ("First")
Other: Janus