Birthstones by Month: Find Yours, With Urdu Names

The quick list: garnet for January, amethyst for February, aquamarine for March, diamond for April, emerald for May, pearl or moonstone for June (alexandrite too), ruby for July, peridot for August (spinel too), blue sapphire for September, opal or tourmaline for October, topaz or citrine for November, and turquoise, tanzanite or zircon for December. The table below gives you the Urdu names as well, and further down there is a short note on every stone: what it actually is, how well it wears, and what we would look at before buying it.

People in Pakistan tend to mix two different systems, and it helps to keep them apart. The month list is a Western jewellery custom, about meaning and personal connection. The Vedic rashi system is astrological and ties a stone to your moon sign and the planet that rules it. We come back to that distinction near the end.

The twelve months at a glance

Names shift a little from bazaar to bazaar; our Urdu and English gemstone names page lists the usual variations.

A short note on every stone

January: garnet

The word goes back to the Latin for pomegranate, because rough garnet crystals look a lot like the red seeds. Travellers used to carry one for protection on the road. The traditional birthstone reds are almandine and pyrope, and today you will also see raspberry-pink rhodolite and green tsavorite. Garnet sits around 7 to 7.5 on the Mohs scale, so it handles ring wear well, and it makes an affordable first gemstone for a January baby.

February: amethyst

Amethyst is simply purple quartz. The Greek name is usually read as "not drunk", and the stone has stood for a steady, sober mind for a very long time. Big South American deposits keep it affordable. Go for a deep, even purple, ideally with flashes of red when you tilt it; washed-out lilac stones are worth much less. Long hours in strong sun can fade it.

March: aquamarine

This is blue beryl, and the name literally means "sea water". Sailors favoured it for centuries. It also has a home connection: the mountains of Gilgit-Baltistan give up clean, beautifully formed aquamarine crystals. The colour you want is a clear sky-to-sea blue. A greenish tint brings the value down, and light heating to remove that green is normal, accepted practice.

April: diamond or white sapphire

Diamond is the classic answer for April. If you want a natural colourless stone that costs less, white sapphire is hard (9 on Mohs) and looks clean and bright. In Vedic practice it is also worn by some people in place of diamond for Venus, or Shukra.

May: emerald

Emerald is green beryl, coloured by chromium or vanadium, and both Cleopatra and the Mughal emperors were famously fond of it. Inclusions, which the trade calls the jardin or garden, are expected in emerald and nobody serious holds them against a stone. The names worth knowing are Colombia, Zambia and our own Swat Valley. Swat zamurd tends to be small but carries a very intense green. Before you buy, read how to identify a natural emerald.

June: pearl and moonstone

Neither of these behaves like an ordinary crystal gem. A pearl grows inside a mollusc. Moonstone is a feldspar whose thin internal layers throw out a floating glow called adularescence. Both are on the soft side and need gentle treatment, which our gemstone care guide covers. Both are linked with the Moon and a calm temperament, and in Vedic tradition moti is Chandra's stone.

July: ruby

Ruby is red corundum, and Vedic tradition gives it to the Sun, Surya. Myanmar set the standard historically; these days good yaqoot also comes from Mozambique, Madagascar and Afghanistan. With a hardness of 9 it is happy in a ring you never take off. Colour is what you are really paying for, and our ruby guide explains why.

August: peridot

Peridot only ever comes in green, anywhere from olive to lime, which makes it unusual among gems. It has even turned up inside meteorites. Closer to home, Kohistan in northern Pakistan is known for large, lively zabarjad, so this is a birthstone with a real local story. Keep it away from sudden heat and from acids.

September: blue sapphire

Blue sapphire has stood for wisdom and loyalty for centuries. In Vedic astrology it is neelam, the stone of Saturn (Shani). Sri Lankan stones are a long-standing favourite. See sapphire origins, on how the source changes value, and neelam benefits and how to wear it, on the traditional customs.

October: opal and tourmaline

The Romans loved opal for its moving flashes of colour. Most opal now comes from Australia and Ethiopia. If you want something that stands up to more wear, pink tourmaline is the alternative. Tourmaline also turns up in green, blue and two-tone "watermelon" crystals, and some of it is mined in northern Pakistan.

November: topaz and citrine

Both are golden stones associated with warmth and plenty. Citrine is yellow quartz, hardness 7, and gentle on the pocket. Topaz is harder at 8 and often has more sparkle. A word of warning from the counter: citrine and yellow topaz are sometimes sold as pukhraj, but real pukhraj is yellow sapphire. Always ask exactly which stone is in front of you.

December: turquoise and tanzanite

Turquoise, our feroza, is among the oldest gems people have worn, and across Pakistan and Iran it is valued as a protective stone. Persian Nishapuri feroza has a particular reputation. Tanzanite was discovered in Tanzania in 1967 and is mined commercially nowhere else; it gives a violet-blue glow. Blue zircon is a third choice for December.

Month stone or rashi stone?

The month list belongs to Western jewellery tradition. You can wear your birthstone purely because you like what it means and how it looks, with no charts involved.

The rashi system is a different thing altogether. Here the stone follows the planet that rules your moon sign, and a good astrologer reads the whole birth chart, not just the sign, before suggesting anything. It also comes with its own customs about finger, metal and the day you first put it on. Sometimes the two systems land on the same stone. Someone born in September with Makar rashi may be pointed towards neelam either way. Just as often they don't match.

• Buying for meaning, colour or as a present? Go by the month.
• Buying for astrological reasons? Go by the rashi and what your astrologer tells you. Our page on gemstones by rashi explains how it works.

For the history of the custom, our longer birthstone guide goes into the history.

Buying a birthstone as a gift

• Think about how it will be worn. Garnet, amethyst, aquamarine, sapphire, ruby, peridot and topaz are fine in rings. Opal, pearl, moonstone and feroza are happier in pendants and earrings.
• Insist on natural. The tradition belongs to the natural stone, not to glass or a lab-grown copy. Authentic Gems sells natural loose stones only, and our authenticity page explains how we check each one.
• Compare by price per carat. Divide the price by the weight and you can compare a small stone with a larger one fairly.
• Ask about setting it. Message us on WhatsApp if you would like to talk about a silver ring.
• Know the return terms. With our 7-day return policy, an unused stone in its original packaging can come back, which takes the worry out of guessing someone else's taste.

You will find every stone mentioned here in our shop. Each listing is one stone, photographed as it is, with its own weight and price. We send by insured, tracked courier with Cash on Delivery, starting with Karachi (usually 1 to 2 working days) and on to every other city in Pakistan, and you check the stone in front of the rider before paying. Not sure what to choose? Send us the birthday and a budget and we will suggest a few stones.