Sometimes people confuse about the animal name of their birth year when they were born in January or February. The reason is that the Chinese Astrology (Four Pillars, Eight Characters or Zi Wei Dou Shu) and Chinese Horoscope (zodiacs or animals) websites give people different answers.

The first day of the Chinese calendar year using in the Chinese Horoscope is the Chinese New Year day, which is the first lunar day of Chinese first lunar month. The Chinese New Year is in between January 20 and February 20.

The first day of the Chinese astrology calendar year using in the Chinese Astrology is the first day of the Tiger month. The day is always around February 4.

In short, Chinese Horoscope uses the Chinese lunar calendar and Chinese Astrology uses the Chinese astrology calendar, which is a solar calendar.

Which calendar should we use?

In Chinese lunar calendar, we use numbers to name the months. For example, we say 7th lunar month or leap 7th lunar months. In Chinese astrology calendar, we use animal names to name the months and years. For example, we say Tiger month or Dragon year. Therefore, it makes more sense to using the Chinese astrology calendar to find our animal name of the birth year.

Animal sign table by birth years

	1900	1912	1924	1936	1948	1960	1972	1984	1996	2008	2020
	1901	1913	1925	1937	1949	1961	1973	1985	1997	2009	2021
	1902	1914	1926	1938	1950	1962	1974	1986	1998	2010	2022
	1903	1915	1927	1939	1951	1963	1975	1987	1999	2011	2023
	1904	1916	1928	1940	1952	1964	1976	1988	2000	2012	2024
	1905	1917	1929	1941	1953	1965	1977	1989	2001	2013	2025
	1906	1918	1930	1942	1954	1966	1978	1990	2002	2014	2026
	1907	1919	1931	1943	1955	1967	1979	1991	2003	2015	2027
	1908	1920	1932	1944	1956	1968	1980	1992	2004	2016	2028
	1909	1921	1933	1945	1957	1969	1981	1993	2005	2017	2029
	1910	1922	1934	1946	1958	1970	1982	1994	2006	2018	2030
	1911	1923	1935	1947	1959	1971	1983	1995	2007	2019	2031