The terms "Common Era", "Anno Domini", "Before the Common Era" and "Before Christ" can be applied to dates that rely on either the Julian calendar or the Gregorian calendar. In chronology, AD is used after a date to pinpoint it as after the time when it is traditionally believed that Jesus Christ was born ( Anno Domini is a Latin expression meaning 'in the year of the Lord'). Common Era is basically an alternative way of expressing the concept denoted by the phrase Anno Domini, commonly AD for short. AD 2015 and 2015 CE are the same year. (Yes, you can use the letters with or without the periods.) B.C., meanwhile, has been changed to B.C.E., "before the common era." There is a trend among scholars towards using "BCE" and "CE" as year markers rather than "BC" and "AD".

Modern dates are understood in the Western world to be in the Gregorian calendar, but for older dates writers should specify the calendar used. BCE is the abbreviation for Before the Common/Current/Christian Era. Information and translations of COMMON ERA in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource on the web. "Whether you use Common Era or Anno Domini, the date is actually still the same and the reference point is still the birth of Christ." What does Anno domini mean in …

The Anno Domini (“the year of our Lord”) choice of a starting date for modern counting of years was proposed by the colorfully named Dionysius Exiguus (a monk from what is now modern Bulgaria or Romania) back in 525 AD. The advent of Christianity is what makes it common and is still the determinant reference point. Thus, it is hardly new to use “common era” for “AD.” In AD 525 (or 525 CE), Dionysius Exiguus invented the anno Domini nomenclature. All the previous dates remain the same, but the change in notation is thought to be more neutral.

The earliest documented use of this method of reckoning the date is in the work of Bede in the seventh century, but the system originated with an eastern monk named Dionysius Exiguus in the year 525.

Related Articles BBC's edict on dates is AD (absolute drivel) Two hundred years later, in 731, the Venerable Bede was the first to utilize both AD and BC. It is even more pointless than most PC nonsense because it changes nothing– the Christian Era is the Common Era.

Some detractors have called it "political correctness" gone overboard, but the words anno Domini have been gradually replaced by C.E., meaning "the common era." BC/BCE and AD/CE are important because they mark the time before and after Jesus was born and historians use them when referring to certain times. 2017 (MMXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2017th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 17th year of the 3rd millennium, the 17th year of the 21st century, and the 8th year of the 2010s decade. The abbreviation comes properly before the date because the phrase it stands for also comes before the date (e.g., "in the Year of Our Lord 735 Bede passed from this earth"). ... is an alternative naming of the traditional calendar era, Anno Domini.