Interesting facts about leap year

1. Many ancient calendars had entire leap months

Many calendars, including the Hebrew, Chinese and Buddhist calendars, are lunisolar, meaning their dates indicate the position of the Moon as well as the position of Earth relative to the sun. 

2. Julius Caesar introduced Leap Day, with help from the Egyptians

Caesar re-ordered the Roman calendar, giving us the blueprint off of which much of the world still operates to this day.

During his time in Egypt, Caesar became convinced of the superiority of the Egyptian solar calendar, which featured 365 days and an occasional intercalary month which was inserted when astronomers observed the correct conditions in the stars.

 Caesar and the philosopher Sosigenes of Alexandria made one important modification: instead of relying on the stars, they would simply add a day to every fourth year. 

In keeping with the Roman tradition of messing with the length of February, that day would fall in the second month of the year—thus Leap Day was born. 

3. People born on Leap Day are called 'Leaplings'

There are only about 5 million people in the whole world who were born on February 29, with the odds of being born on Leap Day standing at about 1-in-1,461. 

Several famous people—including actress and singer Dinah Shore (born 1916), motivational speaker Tony Robbins (born 1960) and hip-hop artist Ja Rule (born 1976)—are leaplings. 

Leaplings technically only get to celebrate their birthdays once every four years, but they do get to be part of an elite group.