THOSE PESKY WINTER MONTHS....

IF YOU WERE BORN after the end of December but before the beginning of March ......well, there was no month nor day for you to claim for your birthday. These were the pesky leftover no-one-knew-what-to-do-with-days

The Romans borrowed parts of their earliest known calendar from the Greeks. The calendar consisted of 10 months in a year of 304 days. The Romans seem to have ignored the remaining 61 days, which fell in the middle of winter. Romulus, the legendary first ruler of Rome, is supposed to have introduced this calendar to Rome in the 700s B.C.E.

March, dedicated to Mars was the first month
April, named from Venus, or Aphrodite, the second month
(some say April is so named from the word 'aperio', which is Latin for 'to open', because this month is full spring and the month when the buds and flowers are opening. )
May, the third month, comes from Maia, the mother of Mercury
June comes from Juno and is the fourth month
Next the months are numbered according to their order; so the fifth month was called
Quintilis for the number five
Sextilis, the sixth month
September, the seventh month
October, the eighth month
November, the ninth
and finally, December the tenth and last month of the Romulus calendar

In time the month of Quintilis would receive the name of July, or Julius, from Caesar when he defeated Pompey.
Of course it followed that Sextilis would become August, or Augustus, the second Caesar.

Domitianus desired to give his name to two months; Germanicus and Domitianus. However, on his being slain, these months reverted back to their original names, respectively, September and October.
November and December are the only two months that have kept their names throughout history without any alteration.

Numa Pompilius, the second king of Rome following Romulus (715?-673? B.C.E.), is supposed to have divided the 'leftover' days into two extra months, January and February, and to have increased the number of days by 50, making the year 354 days.
Plutarch said that Numa, made January the first month of the year and made February the last.

January was named after Janus, a sky-god who was ancient even at the time of Rome’s founding.
January was given precedence by Numa to come before March, which was dedicated to the god Mars; because he wished to take every opportunity of intimating that the arts and studies of peace are to be preferred before those of war.

February comes from the Latin word februum, which means purification. During this month the purification ritual Februa was celebrated in which they make offerings to the dead, and celebrate the Lupercalia.
February remained the last month of the calendar year until c. 450 BC, when it was to become the second month of the year following January. (wiki )

There is another month deserving mention. Every other year Numa ordered the month of
Mercedinus, which was 22 or 23 days long, to be inserted toward the end of February. This was done to make the calendar somewhat match the solar year. Mercedinus, which translates as 'payment for work', was the time when property lessees paid rents due to their landlords.
Later in the Republic, Mercedinus gradually became known as Intercalans It would have a varying number of days and be inserted where needed to align seasons with the months. That is, until a certain Caesar came along.....