How to Write a Date of Birth in Words

You may have questions about how to write a date of birth in figures. What information is expected to lead the figure, the year, day or month? Where any related commas should be placed, if at all? How many spaces to put between each of the dates? Becoming educated on the prevailing conventions that are required can help you complete the process in a clear and concise way to propel your paperwork through the proper channels or send off formal missives with proper etiquette.

Formal types of writing often require a date of birth in words. The lengthy scroll of the birth date adds to the decorum and significance of the occasion. Etiquette rules for invitations and birth announcements tend to require a date of birth in figures rather than the numerical version, which can look stark on a crisp linen paper invitation. Often, formal paperwork requires a date of birth in words rather than numbers. For these situations, make sure to understand precisely how the date should appear and in what order. This minor faux pas can lead to serious delays in a complicated bureaucratic process.

If you are asked to write your date of birth in figures, it can feel confusing at first. Date formats can vary from country to country and for federal or state institution. These different styles of writing your date of birth in words are meant to make the process more streamlined.

Years are spelled out with the century first and the decade last, such as nineteen fifty two for 1952. For the years after 2000, the correct way to put a date in birth figures is two thousand and two for 2002.

Months may be at the beginning, middle or end with a space before and after the preceding or following number. Days are written out as one-thirty one.

Here are a few examples for 3/21/1970:

March, twenty first, nineteen seventy

Twenty first, March, nineteen seventy

Nineteen seventy, twenty first, March

If you are unsure of how to write out the birth date in words, an age calculator is a handy tool. An online age calculator can quickly calculate your exact age at any given date. This is often used if you need to be of a certain age to receive benefits or attend age-restricted functions. For excel, subtract the birth date from the current date in a chosen cell, such as A2. You would put in the formula =(Today()-B2/365 to arrive at the correct age you will be at a specific date, either past, present or future.