Why is the year of today 2008, where'd that # come from?

[ThinkAboutIt]

im interrested in hearing any responses to this question, just for fun of course
my own sight points to the source of BC dates and AD dates, why do we (usa at least that i know of) go by this #/date?

[McCulloch]

Wikipedia:

The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by papal bull Inter gravissimas. It is a reform of the Julian calendar.

Years in the reformed calendar continue the numbering system of the Julian calendar, which are numbered from the traditional Incarnation year of Jesus, which has been labeled the "anno Domini" (AD) era, and is sometimes labeled the "common era" (CE), otherwise known as the "Christian Era".

[row]Armenian calendar [col] 1457[row]Bahá'í calendar [col]164 – 165[row]Berber calendar[col]2958[row]Buddhist calendar [col]2552[row]Burmese calendar [col]1370[row]Chinese calendar [col] 4644/4704-11-23 (丁亥年十一月廿三日) — to — 4645/4705-12-5 (戊子年十二月初五日)[row]Coptic calendar [col]1724 – 1725 [row]Ethiopian calendar [col]2000 – 2001[row]Hebrew calendar[col]5768 – 5769[row]Hindu calendars [row]Vikram Samvat [col]2063 – 2064[row]Shaka Samvat[col]1930 – 1931[row]Kali Yuga[col]5109 – 5110[row]Holocene calendar [col]12008[row]Iranian calendar [col]1386 – 1387[row]Islamic calendar [col]1428 – 1430[row]Japanese calendar[col]Heisei 20 (平成20年)[row]Korean calendar [col]4341[row]Thai solar calendar [col]2551

[ThinkAboutIt]

Wikipedia:

The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by papal bull Inter gravissimas. It is a reform of the Julian calendar.

Years in the reformed calendar continue the numbering system of the Julian calendar, which are numbered from the traditional Incarnation year of Jesus, which has been labeled the "anno Domini" (AD) era, and is sometimes labeled the "common era" (CE), otherwise known as the "Christian Era".

[row]Armenian calendar [col] 1457[row]Bahá'í calendar [col]164 – 165[row]Berber calendar[col]2958[row]Buddhist calendar [col]2552[row]Burmese calendar [col]1370[row]Chinese calendar [col] 4644/4704-11-23 (丁亥年十一月廿三日) — to — 4645/4705-12-5 (戊子年十二月初五日)[row]Coptic calendar [col]1724 – 1725 [row]Ethiopian calendar [col]2000 – 2001[row]Hebrew calendar[col]5768 – 5769[row]Hindu calendars [row]Vikram Samvat [col]2063 – 2064[row]Shaka Samvat[col]1930 – 1931[row]Kali Yuga[col]5109 – 5110[row]Holocene calendar [col]12008[row]Iranian calendar [col]1386 – 1387[row]Islamic calendar [col]1428 – 1430[row]Japanese calendar[col]Heisei 20 (平成20年)[row]Korean calendar [col]4341[row]Thai solar calendar [col]2551

cool info thx a lot. think i'll use that wikipedia website from now on, checked it out, seems like an online dictionary for everything lol