Chinese Zodiac Calculator | What Is My Chinese Animal Sign?

Chinese Zodiac Calculator: Find Your Animal Sign

Enter a full birth date and the calculator converts it to the traditional Chinese lunar calendar, then returns the matching zodiac animal, its element, a short personality trait, and the next year that same animal repeats.

How the Animal and Element Are Determined

The zodiac runs through twelve animals in a fixed order — Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig — repeating every 12 years. A separate 10-year cycle assigns one of five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) to each pair of years, so a full combination such as Metal Rat only returns every 60 years. The animal year itself does not start on 1 January; it starts on Chinese Lunar New Year, a date that moves between late January and mid-February depending on the moon. The calculator converts the day, month, and year entered into the lunar calendar first, so this shift is handled automatically.

Example: A Date Clear of Any Boundary

A birth date of 12 August 1978 falls well inside its lunar year, so no boundary question applies. The calculator returns Horse for the animal, and Earth for the element, since 1978 ends in an 8.

Example: A Date Near Lunar New Year

A birth date of 15 January 2000 might look like a Dragon year at first, since 2000 is widely known for the Dragon. But Lunar New Year in 2000 fell on 5 February, so any birth date before that day still belongs to the previous lunar year. The calculator returns Rabbit and Earth for this date, the correct result for 1999.

Lunar New Year Start Dates

A birth date before the listed day in any row belongs to the animal of the year before it: