The name comes from octo, meaning eight (March used to be the first month). The Romans tried to change it four times and named it after Germanicus, Antonius, Faustina and Herculeus. None of them stuck.

The leaves fall patiently
Nothing remembers or grieves
The river takes to the sea
The yellow drift of leaves.
— Sara Teasdale

October hath always one and twenty fine days. —Old English Proverb

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	1 St Therese of Lisieux	2 Guardian Angels	3	4 St Francis of Assisi, Fast of Ceres, Sh'mini Atzeret	5 Simchat Torah	6 St Faith
7 Jupiter Thunderbolt. Most Holy Rosary of Mary, Ss Sergius and Bacchus, Mikkelin Paiva (Michael's Day), Fiesta de Aqua, Blessing of the Animals	8 San Ernesto Guevara, Canadian Thanksgiving, Columbus Day/Native American Day/Dia de la Raza, Birthday of Confucius, the Nymphs	9 St Dennis	10 New Moon in Libra, Draconids	11 Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Medetrinalia	12 Navaratri	13 Fontanalia, Id-Ul-Fitr
14 Winter Night, Herb Day, Blessing of the Animals	15 (World) Poetry Day, Proerosia	16 Dictionary Day	17 Black Poetry Day, St Audrey, Pyanepsia, Oschophoria	18 St Luke, Theseia	19 Stenia, Teng Kao, aka Chung Yang, Climbing the Heights, Chrysanthemum Day	20
21 St Ursula, Orionids Meteor Showers, Durga-Puja/Dussera	22	23 Thesmophoria begins	24 Raphael the Archangel, Nesteia	25 St Crispin & St. Crispinian, St Isidore/Ochossi, Feast of the Holy Souls, Kalligeneia, Punky Night, Full Moon in Taurus, Waverly’s Slow Time Book Launch Party	26 St Demeter / St Demetrius	27 St Frumentius, Good Bear Day
28 Czech Thanksgiving, Days of the Dead, Ss Simon and Jude, Day of the No	29 Allan Day, St Ida of Leeuw	30	31 Halloween

Names of the Month in Various Cultures
In Anglo Saxon: Winter fyllith (winter begins at the time of the full moon during the 10th month,
probably the full moon of the 10th lunation).
Carolinigian: the vintage month
Welsh: Hydref, the month of cattle lowing
Scots Gaelic, An Damhair, the month of deer rutting
Irish: Deireadh Fomhair, end of autumn

From Blackburn, Bonnie & Leofranc Holford-Strevens, Oxford Companion to the Year, Oxford University Press 1999
Kightly, Charles, The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore, Thames & Hudson 1987

Names of the Month to the Northern Tribes
Aleuts: Hunting month
Koryak: Rutting season of mountain sheep
Yukahir: Rutting time of the wild reindeer
Ugric Osniaks: Naked tree month
Ostiaks: Month in which the willow loses its foliage
Tatars; Little cold month
Buriats: Milk moon
Samoyeds: Month of the short days, Dark month
Eskimos: Time for setting seal nets
Lower Yukon delta: Time for shedding velvet
South of Yukon delta: Flying away (migration of the birds)
Konyag: Hoarfrost covers the grass
Tlinkit: Big moon (because bears get fat)

Nilsson, Martin P, Primitive Time-Reckoning, Oxford University Press 1920

Names of the Month of the European Peoples
Albania: Second autumn month
Basque: Gathering month
Lithuania: Autumn month
Bulgaria: Leaf-fall, gathering of the maize
Ruthenia: The yellow month
Slovakia: Time when the goat ruts
Czechoslovakia: Month of the lowing
Serbia: Vine month
Russia: Dirt month
Germany: Autumn month, first winter month, sowing month, slaughtering month, leaf-fall
Iceland: Slaughtering month
Norway: Vine tide
Denmark: Riding month

Nilsson, Martin P, Primitive Time-Reckoning, Oxford University Press 1920

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