This year marks the first year in four years that few people around the globe get the chance to celebrate their birthday on their actual birth date.
February 29th holds the spot of the rarest birthday in the world, with only a 0.0007% chance of being born on this day.
As you’d expected, most people born on a leap day celebrate it on February 28th or March 1st.
Hoover sophomore Nyah Bankins officially turned 16-years-old on Thursday on her 4th birthday.
Although having such a unique birthday is definitely a conversation starter, Bankins said she would prefer a birthday on a different date.
“Do I like having a leap year birthday? Personally, not really. It makes me ‘special’ and that’s cool but it would be nice just to have a birthday,” said Bankins.
Not everyone had this same response.
“It’s great! I feel I don’t get old,” said Teofilo Cantos, father of Hoover junior Ryan Cantos, about having a birthday on February 29.
Although he was born on February 29, Hoover teacher Rosendo Rojas celebrates his birthday on the 28th, and also celebrates on October 10th because of his Catholic religion.
His students surprised him on Thursday.
“[My students] came in singing this morning,” Rojas said. “I guess one of my students remembered and he brought a little cake with four candles.”
Despite there being only 5 million people born on leap day worldwide, a few of the Hoover leap day birthday students have friends or family born on the same day.
Haykaz Hakopian, a Hoover student’s brother, recalled sharing a birthday with his close friend.
“Also a fun fact I was born at 4 a.m and he was born at 4p.m so I am 12 hours older than him,” Hakopian said.
