BIRTHDAY ATLAS

Birthday facts

Born on May 31.

Everyone born on May 31 is a Gemini — ruled by Mercury, two opinions, both sincere. The stone is emerald, the flower lily of the valley, and the day is shared with Clint Eastwood and Walt Whitman.

Gemini, the Twins — an engraving
Sun sign
Gemini ♊︎
the Twins · ruled by Mercury · two opinions, both sincere
Emerald, the birthstone for May — an engraving
Birthstone
Emerald
May
Lily of the valley, the birth flower for May — an engraving
Birth flower
Lily of the valley
& hawthorn

Your book

Born on May 31? Add the year.

Then it is a pop-up book: the sky the day you arrived, the No. 1 that week, the president, what a stamp cost, your life in weeks, and who was exactly your age when they did the thing they are known for — and at the end, a birthday poster of the day, engraved, to take home. One field. The date lives after the # in the link, which no server sees — nothing about you leaves your browser.

Making it for someone else? Send it as a pop-up birthday card.

The old books say

Gemini, May 21 to June 20.

The Twins, ruled by Mercury, the messenger — and so the books give the sign to talkers, writers, the quick and the curious. An air sign, credited with wit and adaptability and blamed for changing its mind, which its people would call keeping up. Two of everything: two opinions, two projects, two friends who have never met. The tradition finds it charming and slightly exhausting, in that order.

Astrology, reported rather than endorsed — the astronomy is the part of the book that is real.

Good company

Also born on May 31.

The names most looked up among everyone who shares the day — leaning on the ones who last.

1930
Clint Eastwood
American director and actor
1819
Walt Whitman
American poet and essayist
1961
Lea Thompson
American director and actress
2000
Gable Steveson
American wrestler
1976
Colin Farrell
Irish actor
1965
Brooke Shields
American actress and model
2001
Iga Świątek
Polish tennis player
1948
John Bonham
English musician and drummer

On this day

What May 31 has seen.

It is World No Tobacco Day.

1215A Mongol army under Genghis Khan captured Zhongdu (modern Beijing), the capital of the Jin dynasty of China.
1775American Revolution: The Committee of Safety of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, adopted the Mecklenburg Resolves, which annulled and vacated all laws originating from the authority of the king or the Parliament of Great Britain.
1981An organized mob of police and government-sponsored Sinhalese paramilitary forces began three days of attacks that led to the burning of the Jaffna Public Library (renovated building pictured) in Sri Lanka, destroying more than 97,000 items in one of the most violent 20th-century examples of ethnic biblioclasm.

The calendar

When May 31 falls.

A Sunday in 2026, a Monday in 2027, a Wednesday in 2028, a Thursday in 2029, and a Friday in 2030.