Akademik

n.

A new baby born on February 29; a person born on February 29.

Fortunately, kids today with the luck - or misfortune - of being born on the 29th have tools to cope with the complex explanation for their birthdates.

For example, Michelle Whitaker Winfrey, the proud mother of a "leapling" named Miles born Feb. 29, 1992, last year published a children's storybook called "It's My Birthday ... Finally! A Leap Year Story."

— Amy Keller, "Stupak's Giant Leap," Roll Call, February 26, 2004

Statistically, about one in 1,461 births are a leapling; there are an estimated 200,000 in the US and 4.1 million worldwide.

— Schelly Talalay Dardashti, "Happy Birthday...Not!," The Jerusalem Post, February 23, 2001

Raenell Dawn knows she's lucky. Born on Feb. 29, 1960, she leads the Honor Society of Leap Day Babies, a group of people born on that distinctive day. The group functions primarily through its Web site, www.leapdaybabies.com: http://www.leapdaybabies.com/. ...

Wondering what to name your leapling? How about Leapa, Leapanne, or Leaptoria? Haven't figured out what a leapling is? According to the "leaptionary" at Ms. Dawn's Web site, it is a newborn leap day baby.

— Joyce Cohen, "Sites Help Leaplings Bridge Birthday Gap," The New York Times, February 24, 2000

Today's bonus post is a kind of digital birthday card to all those leaplings — also known as leapers (1996) or leapyearlings (2004) — born on Leap Day (1600), February 29.