September (Roman month) September (Roman month) September (from Latin "septem", "seven") or mensis September was originally the seventh of ten months on the ancient Roman calendar that began with March ("mensis Martius", "Mars' month"). It had 29 days. After the reforms that resulted in a 12-month year, September became the ninth month, but retained its name. September followed what was originally Sextilis, the "sixth" month, renamed "Augustus" in honor of the first Roman emperor, and preceded October, the "eighth" month that like September retained its numerical name contrary to its position on the calendar. A day was added to September in the mid-40s
Adoption of the Gregorian calendar Japan decided to officially replace its traditional lunisolar calendar with the Gregorian calendar in 1872, so the day following the second day of the twelfth month of the fifth year of the Meiji emperor's rule, became . (The Japanese rendering of the Western months is simply "ichi-gatsu" or "One-month" for January, "ni-gatsu" or "Two-month" for February, etc.) This brought Japan's calendar in alignment with that of the major Western powers (excluding Russia). To this day, however, it is common to use Nengo, reign names instead of the Common Era or Anno Domini system, especially for official documents; for instance, "Meiji"