January birthstone

January is one of the months where the four standard lists compared below actually agree: Garnet.

January's birthstone by system
SystemStone(s)
Historical (15th–20th century)Garnet
US 1912Garnet
UK 2013Garnet
US currentGarnet

Source context for each list

  • Historical (15th–20th century): This list predates any single standardising body and varied by source, region, and era — it is presented as historical record, not a fixed tradition.
  • US 1912: This is a 20th-century commercial standard set by the US jewelry trade in 1912 (later revised in 1952), not an ancient tradition.
  • UK 2013: This list was first published by the UK trade body in 1937 and revised in 2013 — a modern commercial standard, not a historical inheritance.
  • US current: This is the current US trade list, extended as recently as 2002 (tanzanite) and 2016 (spinel) — an evolving commercial standard, not a fixed tradition.

Zodiac signs in January

Aquarius and Capricorn fall within January. Zodiac birthstones are assigned by sign, not by calendar month, under a separate pair of systems that disagree with each other on every sign — see Aquarius and Capricorn for the comparison.

Frequently asked questions

What is the birthstone for January?
All four systems compared on this page agree: January's birthstone is Garnet.
Has January's birthstone always been the same?
Not exactly the same wording across every era, but the systems compared here — spanning historical record through the current US trade list — converge on the same stone for January, which is unusual: most months show at least some variation.
Which zodiac signs fall in January?
Aquarius and Capricorn overlap January. Zodiac-sign birthstones follow separate, sign-based systems rather than the calendar-month lists on this page — see each sign's page for its own comparison.

Sources

  1. Wikipedia: Birthstone (retrieved 2026-08-10)

Retrieved August 10, 2026.