And 2000 AD is actually 1999 Years after Jesus was born.
Some historians put the actual birth of Jesus 4 years earlier (4 BC), but it WAS thought to be exactly at 1 AD.
A monk named Dionysius Exiguus calculated his own present year to be 525 AD And if you continue counting years from then you get our current year number. |
So, AD is now just a 'Year Number' (every New Year we add 1), and it only roughly equals how many years ago that Jesus Christ was born.
Should 'AD' be written before or after the number?
It WAS common to write it before (the standard was to put 'AD' before the year and 'BC' after), but now many people put 'AD' after the year number. So you decide!
They are recent terms that mean the same as AD and BC:
CE means 'Common Era' and is the same as AD
BCE means 'Before Common Era' and is the same as BC
Example: 500 BCE is 500 BC
There are other ways of saying what year it is!
Example, Muslims have dates that relate to Mohammad's emigration from Mecca to Medina called the Hijra, and so they use AH dates.
The Year 2020 AD is about 1441 AH, but the years start on different days and AH years are shorter!