August runs 31 days and, like July, is named after a Roman ruler — in this case Augustus, Rome’s first emperor, who took the name for himself after the earlier name Sextilis. The renaming placed Augustus alongside Julius Caesar as the two months of the year bearing an emperor’s name.
Across the Northern Hemisphere, August continues the height of summer, often bringing the year’s hottest stretches in many regions even as the days slowly begin to shorten after June’s solstice. In the Southern Hemisphere, August sits at the tail end of winter, with the first signs of spring beginning to appear in some regions by month’s end.
August doesn’t carry as many globally shared holidays as some other months, but it’s widely associated with the last full month of summer break for students in many Northern Hemisphere countries, making it a popular time for family vacations, travel, and outdoor events before the return to school and routine in September. With 31 days, August is one of seven months in the calendar that share that longer length.