Birthdays · December

December 17 birthdayZodiac sign, famous birthdays, personality and your 2027 numbers

The short answer

December 17 is a Sagittarius birthday in the third decan of Sagittarius with birthday number 8 and a Personal Year 22 in 2027; Pope Francis (1936), Humphry Davy (1778) and Milla Jovovich (1975) were born on December 17 too.

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December 17 zodiac sign: Sagittarius

Sun sign: Sagittarius
Sun at noon UTC: 24.7° to 26.1° Sagittarius
Decan: Third of Sagittarius, 20° to 30°
Element and mode: Fire, mutable
Ruling planet: Jupiter

In every one of the 91 years from 1940 to 2030 the Sun stood in Sagittarius for the whole of December 17, in every time zone on Earth, between 24.7° and 26.1° of the sign at noon UTC, so a December 17 birthday is a Sagittarius birthday whatever the year or the hour.

At noon UTC on December 17 the Sun is in the third decan of Sagittarius, 20° to 30°, in every one of those years, a face that belongs to Saturn in the Chaldean order and is read through Leo, ruled by the Sun, by triplicity; in most years the decan runs from December 12 to December 21, and December 17 is its sixth day.

In most years December 17 is the 26th day of the Sun’s season in Sagittarius, which runs from November 22 to December 21 counted at noon UTC, with four days of it still to come. December 17 is the 351st day of a common year and the 352nd of a leap year, with 14 days of the year still to come after it.

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Famous December 17 birthdays

The earliest born of the twelve is Émilie du Châtelet, in 1706, and the most recent Martin Ødegaard, in 1998; six of them were born after 1949.

Born since 1950

Milla Jovovich (born 1975), American actress
Giovanni Ribisi (born 1974), American actor
Martin Ødegaard (born 1998), Norwegian footballer
André Ayew (born 1989), Ghanaian footballer
Laurie Holden (born 1969), American-Canadian actress
Sarah Paulson (born 1974), American actress

Born from 1900 to 1949

Pope Francis (1936–2025), 266th pope of the Catholic Church from 2013 to 2025
Willard Libby (1908–1980), American physical chemist

Born before 1800

Humphry Davy (1778–1829), British chemist
Joseph Henry (1797–1878), American scientist and the 1st Secretary of the Smithsonian
Émilie du Châtelet (1706–1749), Era chiná physicist, and author
Maria I of Portugal (1734–1816), Portuguese monarch from 1777 to 1816

Birthdays from Wikidata, checked against Wikipedia’s “On this day” births: the twelve best known of the 75 people the Almanac’s table keeps for December 17, by how many Wikipedia editions cover them, with dates before the calendar reform as the sources give them.

December 17 birthday personality

Saturn rules the last face of Sagittarius in the Chaldean scheme while Leo lends the Sun’s confidence, so belief is read here as conviction that has been tested: the teacher, the elder, the one whose principles have cost them something. Tradition warns against a certainty that stops listening.

The 17th carries the 1 of a beginning and the 7 of reflection and adds them into 8, so numerology reads it as thought that turns into authority. It is a birthday linked with good judgement and long effort. Read with fire, the 8 is ambition with visible courage: the risk taken in public, the venture backed with conviction.

A question to carry from December 17: what responsibility is your hope ready to take on, and what is it ready to hand over?

The Sun in Sagittarius and the number 8 are only part of the story: your Moon, your rising sign and the rest of your chart have as much to say, and the tradition offers all this as a mirror, never a verdict.

Birthday number 8

Born on the 17th, 1 + 7 = 8, so your birthday number is 8: an 8 vibration supports power, ambition, money, mastery, and authority, with mastery, stewardship, and executive force as its gift and pressure, material fixation, or control issues as its strain.

Your 2027 numbers

A Greek sphinx with a lion's body, folded wings and a serene woman's face, seated on a stone plinth, an engraving — The Sphinx, keeper of riddles

For a birthday on December 17 the house method reduces the birth month and the day on their own and adds the Universal Year of 2027, 11 (2 + 0 + 2 + 7 = 11, a master number kept whole), as it stands: December, the 12th month, reduces to 3, the 17th reduces to 8, and 3 + 8 + 11 = 22, a master number the Almanac keeps whole, so 2027 is your Personal Year 22.

A Personal Year 22 is a master year, the master builder’s, kept whole rather than reduced to 4, read as a year to give a large vision a practical form. In a Universal Year 11 the tradition reads the inspiration as already there, and the work as building it to last.

Personal Months of 2027, a Personal Year 22: Jan 5 Feb 6 Mar 7 Apr 8 May 9 Jun 1 Jul 11 Aug 3 Sep 4 Oct 5 Nov 33 Dec 7

In 2027 December 17 falls on a Friday, the day the old reckoning gives to Venus, and is a Personal Day 6 (7 + 17 = 24, then 6) in a Personal Month 7 (22 + 12 = 34, then 7), while July is a master month 11 and November is a master month 33; the Personal Year itself turns on 1 January, not on the birthday.

December birthstone and birth flower

Birthstones: Turquoise, tanzanite and zircon
Birth flowers: Narcissus, and holly as the second flower

December’s turquoise, tanzanite and zircon come from the modern list (the Jewelers of America list of 1912, as since revised), and its narcissus and holly from The Old Farmer’s Almanac.

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Common questions

What zodiac sign is December 17?

Sagittarius: from 1940 to 2030 the Sun stayed in Sagittarius for the whole of December 17 in every year and every time zone, 24.7° to 26.1° into the sign at noon UTC, so no birth year or birth time changes it.

Is December 17 a cusp birthday?

No: the Sun stays in Sagittarius all day on December 17 in every year from 1940 to 2030, wherever on Earth the birth takes place, and the nearest cusp birthday is December 21, four days later.

Who was born on December 17?

Among the best known people born on December 17 are Pope Francis (1936–2025), Humphry Davy (1778–1829) and Milla Jovovich (born 1975), with Willard Libby, Joseph Henry and Giovanni Ribisi and six more named on this page.

What is the birthday number for December 17?

8. Born on the 17th, 1 + 7 = 8, so your birthday number is 8: an 8 vibration supports power, ambition, money, mastery, and authority, with mastery, stewardship, and executive force as its gift and pressure, material fixation, or control issues as its strain.

What is the 2027 Personal Year for a December 17 birthday?

22. For a birthday on December 17 the house method reduces the birth month and the day on their own and adds the Universal Year of 2027, 11 (2 + 0 + 2 + 7 = 11, a master number kept whole), as it stands: December, the 12th month, reduces to 3, the 17th reduces to 8, and 3 + 8 + 11 = 22, a master number the Almanac keeps whole, so 2027 is your Personal Year 22.