What Are the Names of All the Full Moons in 2024?

January 25 – Wolf Moon (17:54 UTC)

February 24 – Snow Moon (12:30 UTC)

March 25 – Worm Moon (07:00 UTC)

April 23 – Pink Moon (23:48 UTC)

May 23 – Flower Moon (13:53 UTC)

June 22 – Strawberry Moon (01:07 UTC)

July 21 – Buck Moon (10:17 UTC)

August 19 – Blue Sturgeon Moon (18:25 UTC)

September 18 – Harvest Supermoon (02:34 UTC)

October 17 – Hunter’s Supermoon (11:26 UTC)

November 15 – Beaver Moon  (21:28 UTC)

December 15 – Cold Moon (09:01 UTC)

The names most commonly used for each full moon across the world these days have their origin with Native American tribes and colonial settlers from Europe. They date back to the publishing in the 1930s of the Maine Farmer’s Almanac, according to NASA, though that contained dozens of different names for each moon from different tribes and communities. They’ve become popular across the world in recent years largely thanks to the emergence of global popular culture online, which North America dominates.

So we’re left with somewhat odd names like Sturgeon Moon for August, which Algonquin tribes in the northeastern U.S. named after a fish in the Great Lakes that was easy to catch at that time of year. Conversely, December’s Cold Moon makes perfect sense to everyone in the northern hemisphere – as do those whose names track the seasons, such as Flower Moon and Harvest Moon – but they make no sense to those in the southern hemisphere.

You’ll often see ‘supermoon’ added to some full moon names. For example, in 2024 we’ll see a Harvest Supermoon and a Hunter’s Supermoon. Officially called a perigee full moon by astronomers (supermoon is an astrological term), they refer to the full moon appearing slightly bigger in the night sky. That happens because the moon orbits Earth in a slight ellipse.

So each month comes the closest point (perigee) and the farthest point (apogee). When a perigee coincides with a full moon it’s declared a supermoon. However, sometimes you’ll see a supermoon being called, for example, both a Harvest Supermoon and Super Harvest Moon.

There are two definitions of a Blue Moon. The second full moon in a calendar month containing two full moons (a monthly Blue Moon) is called simply a Blue Moon, largely because there is no name for it. A seasonal Blue Moon is slightly different, being the third full moon of four occurring between an equinox and a solstice (or vice versa), which is the definition of an astronomical season. The latter happens on August 19, 2024, which is therefore called the Blue Sturgeon Moon, but there is no monthly Blue Moon in 2024.

Do we need names for each full moon? Perhaps not, but with each one rising and setting at a different time of day and at an ever-changing place on the horizon, there’s a character to each one that’s uniquely its own. Besides, if the strange names get people excited about the full moon then that can only be a good thing for of us who adore the sight of the full moon appearing on the horizon in dusk once each month.