How Full Moons Got Their Names

Did you know that every full moon has a name? January’s full moon is called the Wolf Moon, because wolves allegedly howl more in winter. June’s is the Strawberry Moon, because that’s when the sweet red fruit ripens. And September’s (or October’s) full moon is the Harvest Moon, a traditional time of plenty in the Northern Hemisphere.

But where did these curious full moon names come from? While most are based on traditional Native American names for each lunar month—as interpreted and recorded by people in the 18th- and 19th-century—others might have originated in medieval Europe.

In 1964, The Old Farmer’s Almanac helped cement the modern list of the 12 full moon names by publishing them for the first time.

When European explorers and settlers encountered Native American tribes, they discovered that Indigenous peoples tracked the passage of time differently. Without mechanical clocks or written calendars, there were no words in many Native American languages for the exact time of day, only sunrise, midday, sunset and midnight, or for the days of the week. Even age was a fuzzy concept, usually calculated by how many winters had passed since a major event in the tribe’s history. According to Peter Jones, a 19th-century Ojibwe author, Methodist minister and chief from Ontario, it was common for a 50-year-old Ojibwe man to guess that he was 100.

The passage of the seasons, however, was deeply important to Native Americans, and like most premodern cultures, they used the cycles of the moon to mark seasonal changes. From generations of watching the skies, Native Americans knew that there were usually 12 new moons and 12 full moons between one winter and the next. Since the lunar year is shorter than a solar year, they added a 13th moon (sometimes called a “Lost Moon”) every few years to keep the lunar calendar aligned with the seasons.

Native Americans didn’t name each full moon—that’s a common misunderstanding. Instead, they named each lunar month starting with the new moon and ending with the full moon. Each of the 12 lunar months was given a name associated with its place in the seasonal cycle of foraging, planting, hunting and harvesting that sustained life through the long winter.

In 1720, French Jesuit priest Pierre François-Xavier de Charlevoix described how various Great Lakes tribes named their months: “There is likewise a great variety in the seasons and months among them; because in all these countries the seasons for hunting and fishing, seedtime and harvest, the birth and fall of the leaf, the passage of particular beasts and birds, the time when the roe-bucks change their hair, and when different animals are in rut, serve to distinguish all these things[.]”

Each Native American tribe had its own names for the lunar months. Comanche month names were different from Creek or Shawnee names because each tribe inhabited a different region of North America with distinct flora, fauna and seasonal rhythms. Plus, they spoke different languages.

Most of the 12 full moon names used today originated with a list that colonial-era explorer Jonathan Carver assembled. Born in the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1710, Carver traveled through the northern Mississippi Valley and Great Lakes region in the 1760s, where he spent time with the Dakota, Ojibwe and Ho-Chunk tribes, among others. It’s unclear exactly where Carver got his month names and English translations, because he refers to all Native Americans as simply “the Indians.”

“Every month has with them a name expressive of its season,” wrote Carver in his 1778 book, Travels Through the Interior Parts of North-America in the Years 1766, 1767 and 1768. “For instance, they call the month of March...the Worm Month or Moon, because at this time the worms quit their retreats in the bark of trees, wood, etc. where they have sheltered themselves during the winter.”

Carver’s full list of “Indian” lunar month names was:

Nine of the 12 modern full moon names are shared with Carver’s list, though two are assigned to different months (October is the Hunter’s Moon, and December is the Cold Moon).

Other chroniclers came up with different lists of Native American month and moon names. Peter Jones, for example, recorded the Ojibwe moon names in 1861 as:

The Strawberry Moon is the only entry that Jones landed on the modern full moon list. When The Old Farmer’s Almanac first included full moon names in 1964, it chose the generic June Moon instead of Strawberry Moon. It also listed Hot Moon for July and Travel Moon for November, which were variations on Carver’s original list.

Here’s the current list of full moon names popularized by The Old Farmer’s Almanac, along with some alternatives.

This is the only full moon name that has no clear connection to Native American traditions. Instead, the Wolf Moon likely originated in the Celtic culture of medieval Europe, where wolves were heard howling in the dead of the winter. At the time, people believed the wolves were howling because of hunger, but wildlife biologists say the wolves are very successful winter hunters and howl when they’re happy or feeling sociable. Other traditional names for the January full moon are Old Moon and Moon After Yule, the midwinter festival celebrated in parts of pre-Christian northern Europe.

According to Carver, the tribes he encountered called February the Snow Moon “because more snow commonly falls during this month than any other in the winter.” The Abenaki called February “the Moon in Which There Is a Crust on the Snow,” according to a Jesuit missionary writing in 1865. Because hunting in the snow was so difficult, some tribes called February the Hunger Moon.

There are different explanations for this lunar name. Carver said that it referred to worms that emerged from the bark of trees in the spring. Others say that it has to do with the earthworms that reappeared in the softening ground. Either way, this moon is an early marker of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Other names for the Worm Moon are the Crow Moon and the Sap Moon, which marked the important maple syrup harvest.

This colorful name doesn’t refer to the shade of the moon itself but rather to a blushing wildflower called creeping phlox, or moss pink that blooms each April in eastern North America. To the Anishinaabe, April was the Sucker Moon, named for the run of native suckerfish that returned each spring.

Wildflowers blossom like fireworks across North America in May, so it’s no surprise that several tribes called May the Flower Moon, including the Dakota and Algonquian people. Arriving at the height of spring, this moon was also known as the Planting Moon, Budding Leaf Moon and Egg Moon.

Peter Jones recorded this lunar month name among the Ojibwe, but it was also used by the Dakota, Lakota and Algonquian peoples to mark the peak of wild strawberry season. To the Cherokee, June was the Green Corn Moon, and the Tlingit knew it as the Birth Moon, when new fawns and cubs appeared alongside their mothers.

Carter called the naming of this moon “obvious,” because July was when male deer regrew their antlers, which grew larger each year until reaching maturity. The Ojibwe and Algonquian peoples had more berries on their mind, calling this the Raspberry Moon. For the Tlingit of the Pacific Northwest, it was the Salmon Moon, signaling the return of the all-important salmon harvest.

This prehistoric-looking fish, native to freshwater lakes and rivers in North America, was a staple for many Native American tribes, which harvested sturgeon each summer. For the Anishinaabe of the Great Lakes region, this was the Ricing Moon, time to harvest the native wild rice that is central to their culture.

The Harvest Moon alternates between September and October, depending on which full moon falls closest to the autumnal equinox. When October’s full moon is the Harvest Moon, September reverts to the Corn Moon, which coincides with the peak corn harvest in many places. For the Ojibwe, September was the Fading Leaves Moon, arriving as it did with the first nip of cool fall weather. For many animals, love is in the air in September, inspiring the Cree names of Mating Moon and Rutting Moon.

The fall was a critical time to harvest deer and other animals at their peak size after a summer of fattening up. Carver recorded it as the Travelling Moon, because it marked the time when the Dakota and other tribes moved south to winter camps and hunting grounds. When the October full moon lands closer to the equinox, it becomes that year’s Harvest Moon.

This was another of Carver’s interpretations. He wrote: “for in this month the beavers begin to take shelter in their houses, having laid up a sufficient store of provisions for the winter.” In colonial times, it was also the season to trap beavers for their valuable pelts. For the Dakota, November was the Deer Rutting Moon, and the Algonquin called it the Whitefish Moon after another important native species.

No explanation is needed for this frosty lunar name, which Carver associated with January. The Cree, who are native to Canada, called their frigid December weather the Frost Exploding Trees Moon. In pre-Christian Europe, it was the Moon Before Yule.

In addition to the traditional full moon names, there are some more modern terms, too: