DATENAME()

This function returns a character string representing the specified *datepart* of the specified *date*.

Signature

DATENAME ( datepart , date )

Parameters

datepart — The specific part of the *date* argument that `DATENAME` will return. This table lists all valid *datepart* arguments.
date — An expression that can resolve to one of the following data types:

Examples

SELECT DATENAME(year, '12:10:30.123')  
    ,DATENAME(month, '12:10:30.123')  
    ,DATENAME(day, '12:10:30.123')  
    ,DATENAME(dayofyear, '12:10:30.123')  
    ,DATENAME(weekday, '12:10:30.123');

1900|January|1|1|Monday

Run against SQL Server 16.0.4265.3 on 2026-09-13. This is the output we got, not the documentation’s.

Available on

SQL Server 2017 and later
Azure SQL Database
Azure SQL Managed Instance
Azure Synapse Analytics
Analytics Platform System (PDW)
Fabric SQL database

Want to run this against your own SQL Server server from an iPhone, iPad or Mac? These are ours — every connection goes straight from the device to your database, with no account and no server of ours in between.

NavidogEvery engine we support, in one app

Signature and description adapted from the Microsoft SQL documentation, used under the CC BY 4.0. SQL Server and Azure are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. This page is not affiliated with Microsoft.