Leap year baby named for season
Autumn Ikitau was born at the end of February, but it will be another four years before she can celebrate her birthday on the date she was born.
February only has 29 days every four years – a leap year.
By the time she celebrates her fifth February 29 birthday party, Autumn will be 20 years old.
While in New Zealand, for any legal purposes, a person born on February 29 is usually deemed to have their birthday on February 28 in non-leap years, Autumn is going to celebrate her birthday on March 1, proud parents Tavita Ikitau and Kym Ngatai-simpson, from New Plymouth, said.
“Because if it wasn’t leap year she would have been born on March 1,” Ngatai-simpson said.
Autumn was Taranaki’s only leap year baby, but she wasn’t expected to arrive until March 11.
“I wasn’t feeling well and they told me I had to have a C-section the next day.”
Autumn arrived at 11.33am weighing in at 2.7kg or just under 6lbs.
Though she is only a few days old, Autumn has already beaten the odds.
The likelihood of being born on any day of the year is 1 out of 365, and the odds of being born on February 29 are 1 in 1461 days, or 0.068%.
February 29 is the least common birth date in the country, with an estimated 3500 Kiwis celebrating their birthdays on that date – about seven people in every 10,000 people, according to Stats NZ.
People who are born on February 29, are often known as leaplings or leapers.
Rapper Ja Rule and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit star Peter Scanavino are also leapers. According to Wikipedia the extra day is added every four years to keep the calendar synchronised with the astronomical or seasonal calender.
Many countries have traditions around Leap Year.
In Ireland and Britain February 29 is the day that woman can propose marriage to their partners. This dates from a time when it was traditionally men who popped the question.