About this tool
Enter a birth date and this calculator returns everything commonly tied to it: the Western (tropical) zodiac sign with its symbol, element, modality, ruling planet, and date range; the Chinese zodiac animal with its element and yin or yang polarity, worked out from the actual Lunar New Year date for that year rather than January 1; the modern birthstone and the traditional birth flower for the month; the generation name (Greatest, Silent, Baby Boomer, Generation X, Millennial, Generation Z, Generation Alpha, or Generation Beta); and the day of the week the person was born on. A table of all twelve Western signs and a table of the Chinese animals for the surrounding years let you compare with friends and family. It is a quick reference for birthday cards, baby-name planning, astrology enthusiasts, and anyone who was born in January or February and has never been sure which Chinese animal year they belong to.
How it works
The Western sign uses the fixed tropical date ranges that newspapers and most astrologers publish (Aries March 21 – April 19, Taurus April 20 – May 20, and so on through Pisces February 19 – March 20). The true moment the Sun enters each sign drifts by a day either way from year to year, so dates on a boundary (the cusp) are flagged. The Chinese animal depends on the lunisolar year, which begins on Lunar New Year between January 21 and February 20; the calculator holds a table of the Gregorian date of Lunar New Year for every year from 1930 to 2040 and assigns birthdays before that date to the previous year's animal. The animal follows a 12-year cycle anchored so that 1900, 1912, and 2020 are Rat years; the heavenly-stem element follows a 10-year cycle by the last digit of the year (0–1 Metal, 2–3 Water, 4–5 Wood, 6–7 Fire, 8–9 Earth), even years being yang and odd years yin. Birthstones are the modern list maintained by Jewelers of America, birth flowers are the common English list, generations use the Pew Research Center boundaries with Generation Alpha (2013–2025) and Generation Beta (2026 onward) added, and the weekday comes from the JavaScript Date object built from the local calendar date.
Frequently asked questions
I was born on the cusp between two signs. Which one am I?
The Sun enters a new sign at a specific instant that varies between about the 19th and 23rd of the month depending on the year, and on the time zone you were born in. This page uses the conventional fixed ranges, so if your birthday is within a day of a boundary the sign shown may differ from what a precise ephemeris gives. Anyone born within a day or two of a boundary can reasonably identify with traits of both signs, which is why such birthdays are called cusp dates.
Why does my Chinese zodiac animal differ from other sites?
Many simple calculators assign the animal by the Gregorian year alone, which is wrong for people born in January or early February before Lunar New Year. Someone born on 26 January 1990 belongs to the Snake year that began on 6 February 1989, not to the Horse year that began on 27 January 1990. This calculator uses the actual Lunar New Year date for every year from 1930 to 2040, so it gives the traditional answer. A minority of practitioners use the solar term Lichun (around 4 February) as the boundary instead.
What do the Chinese elements and yin/yang mean?
The full Chinese calendar names each year by combining one of ten heavenly stems with one of twelve earthly branches, giving a 60-year cycle. The stems map to the five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water), each appearing in a yang year followed by a yin year, so 2024 was the Yang Wood Dragon and 2025 the Yin Wood Snake. The element is said to color the animal's traits; for example a Fire Horse (1966, 2026) is described as more restless than a Water Horse (1942, 2002).
Where do the generation boundaries come from?
The Silent Generation (1928–1945), Baby Boomers (1946–1964), Generation X (1965–1980), Millennials (1981–1996), and Generation Z (1997–2012) follow the Pew Research Center definitions, which are the ones most often cited in US media and research. The Greatest Generation covers births up to 1927. Generation Alpha (2013–2025) and Generation Beta (from 2026) are the labels proposed by demographer Mark McCrindle and are not yet formally adopted by Pew; treat those two as working names.