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Have you ever felt happy on Monday morning? I hope you did, otherwise you definitely need to change your mindset and to become more positive. You may start with my 7 reasons to love Mondays and then find a way to make Mondays better for yourself. This post is a collection of fun facts about Mondays you probably didn’t know!
The idea of this article is to show you how much more there is to Monday than just a first work day that everyone hates. Below you’ll find lots of fun statistics, cultural insights, and important historical events that happened on Mondays. Hopefully, it will make your Monday more interesting. Enjoy!
Let’s first look into the past and find out where the name of Monday comes from in the first place.
Origin of Monday
There are various origins of Monday’s name coming from different cultures and languages, but in each version it means “day of the moon”. In Latin it was called “diēs Lūnae”, the Middle English version was “Monenday”, and the first known use in the history of the English language was Anglo-Saxon “Mōnandæg”.
Outside of the English origin, the name that represents Monday in other languages means completely different things. Thus, in Chinese and some other cultures it simply means “day one of the week”, while in many Slavic languages it either means “day after Sunday” or also represents the first day that starts a week.
If that seems weird to you, you likely live in the US or somewhere near. In other parts of the world, Monday is actually the first day of the week, while Sunday is the last one. In case you don’t believe me, Google a calendar in any European language and see it by yourself! For example, I’m from Ukraine and our calendar looks like this (red columns are for weekends, i.e. Saturdays and Sundays).
Fun facts about Mondays
While researching the subject, I found a ton of information that belongs in history books rather than in fun blog posts. I didn’t include most of that in my post. As opposed to other Monday-related articles out there, it was my intention to only hand-pick interesting facts that are really fun and not boring. After all, my goal is always to make you smile and see the world in a more positive way, and sharing some knowledge about weekdays is just one of the ways to do this!
- According to a study done in the UK a few years back, most people don’t even smile on Monday mornings. The first smile appears no earlier than at 11:16 am! What can be better evidence of so-called Monday blues? Smile, people, because Mondays are amazing!
- Monday is the most popular day for online shopping. Good news if you are in the e-commerce industry! Maybe, that’s the reason for those smiles? You come to work in a bad mood and try to cheer yourself up with a new something? You pour a cup of coffee, catch up with coworkers, check a couple of important tasks off the to-do list… One of the tasks is to read emails and one of them appears to be a sale. Just in time! As the afternoon is approaching, the order is placed, and the excitement is all over your face. Hence all the smiling!
- There is an English rock band called Happy Mondays. They’ve been active on and off since 1980, won a bunch of awards, and reformed a few times over the years. Are their songs really happy? Decide for yourself.
- The first book of The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis was first published on Monday, October 16, 1950. Since then, many little children have visited their bedroom wardrobes in a hope to find a magical world.
- While Monday is considered a second day of the calendar week in the US and some other countries, it’s actually the first day of the week according to the international standard ISO 8601. If you live in Europe, for example, your week officially starts with a Monday.
- On Monday, May 9, 1960, the drug administration agency of US approved the world’s first birth-control pill as safe for public use. This saved many women’s lives and opened the doors for safe sex all over the world.
- Almost 50% of employees are late to work on Mondays. Which half are you in? If you are the one who is late, I hope it’s not because you find it hard to deal with laziness! But if the reason is that you contributed a few extra minutes to finish some productive project at home, that’s better!
- Not surprisingly, Monday is the most popular day to call in sick. According to research, Monday takes up 35% of all employees’ sick days. Out of those, one of the “sickest” days of the year happens to be a Monday after the Super Bowl. Hangover virus is really a thing, huh?
- A famous American pop rock band The Bangles has a song named Manic Monday, which describes exactly what Monday haters usually feel when Monday comes.
- Monday is considered a day of fasting in various world religions. There are different reasons for such a restriction: for example, Christian monks commemorate angels on Mondays, and fast to feel closer to angelic life. Muslims are encouraged to fast on Mondays because Prophet Muhammad was born and fasted on Mondays.
- After a fun weekend, Monday is the day people come to work most sleep-deprived. As much as it’s counterintuitive because everyone likes to sleep in on a weekend, people also tend to go to bed much later than on a weekday. This results in having even fewer hours of quality sleep than usual. If that’s not the case for you, remember that oversleeping can be as bad for your health and wellbeing as sleep deprivation. So catch up on your sleep but don’t overdo it!
- Monday Michiru is the most famous person to date whose first name is actually Monday. She was born in Tokyo in a family of Japanese Jazz players and now is herself a Jazz singer and songwriter and lives in New York City.
- Our circadian rhythms make it much likely to get a heart attack on Monday than any other day of the week, says Harvard Health Publishing. To prevent this from happening at all, stick to a healthy routine, stress less about the start of the week, and try to live more mindfully.
- Every six years there are 53 Mondays in a year instead of 52. Next time this will happen in 2024. Such a year always starts on a Monday.
Motivational Monday facts
If you are like most people, you will probably benefit from some extra motivation on Monday, especially if you gotta work today. Here is a bunch of positive facts to improve your Monday perception! Also, take a look at my huge selection of 270 quotes for more Monday motivation.
- Opposite to common belief, studies show that Monday is on average the most productive day of the week! Everyone seems to hate it but at the same time everyone is willing to use the power of a new beginning on a weekly basis.
- Monday is the best day to get your life together. Start by asking yourself a few weekly questions that help reflect on your current life situation and find ways to improve it. There is nothing better than practicing self-awareness to achieve the life of your dreams!
- #Monday is obviously the most common hashtag used on Mondays on Instagram. However, the second most popular Monday hashtag is #MondayMotivation. It has nearly 25 million posts compared to #MondayBlues with less than 3 million posts! Clearly, many more people are eager to find motivation and be productive rather than sit and whine about something they can’t change. Isn’t this reassuring?
- People who start the week with Monday affirmations have generally a more positive and productive week. What’s more reassuring than a few inspiring positive messages put straight into your subconscious mind on a Monday morning?
Silly Monday facts
Believe it or not, silly facts are easier to find than positive motivational ones. Why? Because people willingly share their blue moments and talk about the negative sides of Monday, but hardly anyone is willing to discuss their day when everything is great and the mood is fine. If you are willing to read some funny sayings and jokes about Mondays, I have a ton here!
- People spend on average 12 minutes during a Monday moaning about the fact that it’s Monday. This makes it about 34 minutes of moaning in total: 12 more minutes of moaning compared to 22 minutes on any other day. What is the best way to connect with fellow employees if not share a common complaint? It’s probably one of the most popular topics for small talk with coworkers on Mondays, when the weather is well-discussed, of course.
- Monday is the only day of the seven weekdays that is an anagram. If you rearrange the letters, you get another word, which is “dynamo” (an electric generator, commonly used for producing direct current).
- If you want to buy a car, Monday morning is the perfect time to do it. During a weekend, dealerships are much more crowded so you get less attention from a salesperson, which minimizes your chance for a good deal. But as they likely get more sales on a weekend, they are usually happy about that when they come to work on Monday. This is your chance to find a dealer in a good mood (rarely busy as most people are at work on Monday morning) and negotiate a better deal!
- A well-known fictional cat called Garfield has a mutual hate relationship with Mondays.
- According to real studies of the weigh cycles done by Cornell University, we weigh the most on Monday. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as we relax more, treat ourselves more, go out more, and generally eat more over the weekend. Many people see Monday as an opportunity to get back into a healthy routine, which means they go off track on a weekend. So better not use the scales on Monday to avoid another reason for Monday blues!
- On Mondays, people give the most promises to themselves. No other day of the week faces so many cases of goal setting, self-motivation, and trying to start a new life with a clean slate. If you find yourself a bit demotivated, reach out for some positive affirmations that help you build a success mindset!
- As per Urban Dictionary, “Mondays” is a slang term used by racist white people to talk about people of color, especially veiled in their presence. Thus, depending on the situation, the phrase “nobody likes Mondays” may have quite a negative double meaning.
- Beauty research showed that women feel the least attractive on Mondays and in the mornings, which makes the Monday morning the ugliest time of the week! That’s, of course, completely subjective: if you can relate to these ridiculous perceptions, here are a few “I am beautiful” affirmations to grow your self-esteem.
Famous Mondays in history
As you will see from reading the facts below, Monday is no ordinary day. From big inventions that are now part of our daily life to great decisions that changed lives, many things actually happened on Monday. Maybe it’s time for you too to start something you have always wanted to?
- On Monday, August 6, 1945, the first atomic bomb called “Little Boy” was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by American Boeing, killing about 70 000 people immediately. This led to the surrender of Japan and eventually the ending of World War II. The first day of warless life happened to be 3 September 1945, which was also a Monday.
- Monday, January 22, 1973, was the day of legalizing the woman’s right to abortion by the Supreme Court’s decision.
- Youtube platform, the one which we now can’t imagine our lives without, was launched on Monday, February 14, 2005.
- On Monday, November 15, 1971, the first advertisement for a microprocessor called the Intel 4004, saw the world. Who knew that this first one-chip CPU will become a heart of a computer era and cardinally change the world?
- Cyber Monday, which is the 24-hour event on the first Monday after Thanksgiving when most online stores have crazy sales, first took place on Monday, 28 November 2005. Since that day, Cyber Monday gets more and more profitable every year, with almost hitting $10 billion in one day in 2020.
- Titanic, a luxury British passanger liner, sank in the early morning of Monday, 15 April 1912, after a collision with an iceberg. More than 1500 lives were lost as a result of it.
- Monday, June 10th of 1935, Dr. Bob, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, has his last beer. This day is celebrated as the start of an organization that helps fellow drunks keep each other sober ever since.
Conclusion on facts about Mondays
These were all the fun facts around Mondays. I hope you had some fun reading them and maybe even learned something new today! Tell me in the comments which fact impressed you the most!
Here is more fun stuff to read about Monday:
- 270 Positive Quotes For Monday Motivation
- 7 Reasons To Love Mondays Only Successful People Understand
- 50+ Monday Affirmations For A Fabulous Week
- How To Make Mondays Better: 8 Simple Ideas
- Best Hashtags For Monday To Post On Instagram in 2024
- 20 Mindful Monday Questions For Weekly Reflection Sessions
- 70 Inspiring And Funny Sayings About Mondays