Years in English

This page is about how years are said and read (and written) in English.

Judgements

key:

• preferred
• nothing wrong
• sounds odd in most contexts or only okay formally
• not okay

JNW's judgements about how different years can be said or read.

20th century
1900	nineteen	nineteen oh (oh?)	nineteen hundred	one thousand nine hundred	one thousand and nine hundred
1905	nineteen five	nineteen oh five	nineteen hundred five	one thousand nine hundred five	one thousand nine hundred and five
1910	nineteen ten	nineteen one oh	nineteen hundred ten	one thousand nine hundred ten	one thousand nine hundred and ten
1911	nineteen eleven	nineteen one one	nineteen hundred elevent	one thousand nine hundred eleven	one thousand nine hundred and eleven
1920	nineteen twenty	nineteen two oh	nineteen hundred twenty	one thousand nine hundred twenty	one thousand nine hundred and twenty
1995	nineteen ninety five	nineteen nine five	nineteen hundred ninety five	one thousand nine hundred ninety five	one thousand nine hundred and ninety five
21st century
2000	twenty	twenty oh (oh?)	twenty hundred	two thousand	two thousand
2005	twenty five	twenty oh five	twenty hundred five	two thousand five	two thousand and five
2010	twenty ten	twenty one oh	twenty hundred ten	two thousand ten	two thousand and ten
2011	twenty eleven	twenty one one	twenty hundred eleven	two thousand eleven	two thousand and eleven
2020	twenty twenty	twenty two oh	twenty hundred twenty	two thousand twenty	two thousand and twenty
2095	twenty ninety five	twenty nine five	twenty hundred ninety-five	two thousand ninety-five	two thousand and ninety-five
22nd century
2100	twenty one	twenty one oh (oh?)	twenty one hundred	two thousand one hundred	two thousand and one hundred
2105	twenty one five	twenty one oh five	twenty one hundred five	two thousand one hundred five	two thousand one hundred and five
2110	twenty one ten	twenty one one oh	twenty one hundred ten	two thousand one hundred ten	two thousand one hundred and ten
2111	twenty one eleven	twenty one one one	twenty one hundred eleven	two thousand one hundred eleven	two thousand one hundred and eleven
2120	twenty one twenty	twenty one two oh	twenty one hundred twenty	two thousand one hundred twenty	two thousand one hundred and twenty
2195	twenty one ninety five	twenty one nine five	twenty one hundred ninety-five	two thousand one ninety-five	two thousand one ninety-five

The problem

As seen in the chart, the 20th and 22nd centuries have the same rules for pronunciation of the year, but the 21st century seems to have its own rules.

Possible explanation

The problem seems to stem from the fact that in English, hundreds can be counted by any number lower than 100, except for the tens higher than 10 (i.e., 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90). If hundreds could be counted by 20, then "twenty hundred" would okay, whereas if hundreds couldn't be counted by 19, then "nineteen hundred" would not be okay. The restriction on using "oh" in nn0n combinations seems to be identical.

Because "twenty hundred" is not okay in English, the previously only formal pattern was used colloquial, and the year 2000 was called "two thousand". Subsequent years followed this pattern due to the restriction on "{20, 30, etc.) oh ...": i.e., "two thousand one", "two thousand two", etc.

With the year 2010 a problem arose. The "two thousand n" pattern was already in standard colloquial usage (and even before the year 2010 came around, foreseeable to be in standard usage), though the restriction which caused it (*"twenty hundred", *"twenty oh five") no longer applied. This meant that (by analogy?) "two thousand ten" became the preferred colloquial reading of what might otherwise be "twenty ten".

Follow-up research

There should be some research done to determine how the year was pronounced before the year 2000 rolled around, and before its first decade was commonly referred to in English. An example would be to see how Arthur C. Clarke pronounced the name of his 1982 novel and the subsequent 1984 film named "2010: Odyssey Two". This sort of information would help to sort out whether the preference for "two thousand ten" was due to ten years of saying "two thousand n", or whether it would've been the default way of saying it before that too.