Is National Girlfriend Day about romantic partners or friends?

Friends. As celebrated on August 1, it honors platonic friendships between women, not romantic relationships, which is the older meaning of the word "girlfriend" anyway.

When is National Girlfriend Day?

It is observed every year on August 1 in the United States.

Who created National Girlfriend Day?

No one is verifiably documented as the founder. Several self-reported claims circulate that name different people and even different dates, but none has been independently confirmed.

How is it different from National Boyfriend Day?

National Boyfriend Day, October 3, celebrates a romantic partner, while National Girlfriend Day, August 1, celebrates a woman's female friendships. They are separate days with different meanings.

How is it different from Galentine's Day?

Both celebrate female friendship, but Galentine's Day falls on February 13 and was coined on the show Parks and Recreation, while National Girlfriend Day is on August 1 with no documented origin.

Why do people say friendship is good for your health?

Large studies link strong social ties to longer life; a 2010 review of more than 300,000 people found connection predicted survival at a level comparable to quitting smoking.

National Girlfriend Day

Next celebratedSaturday, August 1, 2026

An appreciation observance on August 1 celebrating platonic friendships between women and the bonds women share with their closest female friends.

See how to celebrate

Countdown to the day

--DAYS

--HRS

--MIN

--SEC

Last updated February 26, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?

YEARLY DATEAugust 1

OBSERVED INUnited States

CATEGORYRelationships

SUBCATEGORYFriendship

ORIGIN

Community Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY

Not documented

FIRST OBSERVED

Not documented

HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A day for friends with no author to thank.

No documented founder or formal establishment record has been verified for National Girlfriend Day. Several self-reported claims circulate, naming different people, different years, and even a different date, and none has been independently confirmed; the observance had settled on August 1 in United States online culture by the 2010s.

+ Know the story? Submit a founder Help us complete this holiday

INTRO

The friendship behind the word came first

The word built its romantic reputation by accident. When "girl friend" first appears in print, in 1859, it means a woman's female friend, nothing more. The version everyone pictures now, the sweetheart, does not show up until 1922, more than sixty years later, according to the Online Etymology Dictionary.

National Girlfriend Day, observed every August 1 in the United States, belongs to the older meaning. It is a day for the friend who answers on the second ring, not the partner. And the bond it marks turns out to be more than sentimental.

One of the largest reviews ever done on human connection found that close relationships predict how long people live, with an effect researchers placed alongside quitting smoking. The friend you call to vent is, in the language of the data, a health intervention.

ORIGINS

Girlfriend Day history

CHAPTER 01

Two meanings, sixty years apart

Before "girlfriend" meant a partner, it meant a peer. The earliest print use describes a woman's friend from her youth, a companion rather than a romance. For decades the word stayed there.

The romantic sense arrived later and slowly. Only in the 1920s does the dictionary record "girlfriend" as a man's sweetheart, the meaning that would go on to crowd out the first one in everyday speech. National Girlfriend Day reaches back past that shift, to the friend the word originally named.

CHAPTER 02

What researchers learned about women and friendship

For a long time the textbook answer to stress was fight-or-flight. In 2000, a team at UCLA argued that the model had been built mostly on male subjects and missed something. Under pressure, they proposed, women lean toward a different response: tending to others and seeking out company, a pattern they named tend-and-befriend, with the hormone oxytocin as a likely driver.

Later work measured the stakes. In a study of 2,835 women living with breast cancer, those who were socially isolated were markedly more likely to die than those with friends and family around them, the connection itself moving the odds. Friendship, the evidence kept suggesting, was not a soft subject.

CHAPTER 03

A day with no one to credit

The observance itself is the least documented part of the story. No founder, no proclamation, no first celebration is on record. Competing claims name different people and even land on different dates, the kind of tangle that usually means a day grew on its own rather than being declared.

What is clear is the destination. By the 2010s, August 1 had become the day Americans set aside online to thank the women in their lives, sustained by social posts and a wave of seasonal marketing rather than any institution. It is, fittingly, a holiday made by friends rather than handed down to them.

TIMELINE

Timeline

The word names a friend

"Girl friend" appears in print meaning a woman's female friend, the observance's original sense, decades before any romantic meaning.

The romantic sense arrives

The dictionary first records "girlfriend" as a man's sweetheart, the meaning that would later overshadow the friendship one.

Tend-and-befriend proposed

UCLA researchers describe a stress response more common in women, centered on caring for others and seeking connection.

Friendship linked to survival

A Nurses' Health Study analysis finds socially isolated women with breast cancer face higher mortality than connected women.

The strongest evidence lands

A meta-analysis of hundreds of thousands of people finds social connection rivals quitting smoking as a predictor of survival.

Loneliness called a health risk

The U.S. Surgeon General warns that social disconnection carries a mortality risk on the order of smoking, while Pew maps how Americans' friendships actually look.

BY THE NUMBERS

National Girlfriend Day by the Numbers

~50%: Higher survival odds with strong ties
71%: Women whose close friends are women
61%: US adults who call close friends vital
15: Cigarettes a day, loneliness risk equivalent

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Girlfriend Day

Health

The survival edge from strong relationships outranked obesity and physical inactivity in the data.

The 2010 review did not find a vague feel-good effect. It found that strong relationships predicted survival at a level comparable to quitting smoking, outranking risks such as obesity and inactivity.

Biology

It may be wired in

The tend-and-befriend account suggests that turning to other women under stress is not just a habit but part of how the female stress response is built, with oxytocin among the proposed mechanisms.

Culture

A counterweight to going it alone

With the U.S. Surgeon General warning about loneliness as a public-health problem, a day that prompts people to actually reach out reads less like fluff and more like upkeep.

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate National Girlfriend Day

Make the call you keep meaning to make

Pick the friend you have been meaning to catch up with and actually dial, no text. The point of the day is the contact itself, not the plan you make on it.

PLAN

Plan an unhurried get-together

Block out real time for the friends who matter, a long lunch or a slow morning rather than a squeezed-in coffee. Connection that counts tends to need a little room to breathe.

WRITE

Write down what she actually means to you

Skip the generic card and name one specific thing your friend has done for you. Particulars land harder than sentiment, and they are the part she will reread.

ROUND

Round up the group that drifted apart

Use the date as the excuse to revive a friend circle that life pulled in different directions. A single shared message thread is often all it takes to restart it.

PASS

Pass the day along to a younger friend

Tell a daughter, niece, or mentee why a strong friendship is worth protecting. The research on connection is, at heart, an argument for tending these bonds early.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National Girlfriend Day?

1 / 7

Which meaning of "girlfriend" is older?

Answer

No. It is an unofficial observance with no legal status, no day off work, and no government recognition; it lives on social media and in retail promotion.