diff --git a/app/helpers/people_helper.rb b/app/helpers/people_helper.rb
index 4711433ed27dbb3da57206af0ba1d34e02ca2007..03f5e47b85dcd4210b475e71d8ac4d5907181aad 100644
--- a/app/helpers/people_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/people_helper.rb
@@ -19,4 +19,12 @@ module PeopleHelper
       I18n.t "people.helper.people_on_pod_are_aware_of"
     end
   end
+
+  def birthday_format(bday)
+    if bday.year == 1000
+      bday.strftime("%B %d")
+    else
+      bday.strftime("%B %d %Y")
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/app/models/profile.rb b/app/models/profile.rb
index 2e66fc37e46267eba45312998cd043fe8741a9d3..12215928596a5d532efd3fc4039d64d3f29eded0 100644
--- a/app/models/profile.rb
+++ b/app/models/profile.rb
@@ -88,10 +88,11 @@ class Profile
   end
 
   def date= params
-    if ['year', 'month', 'day'].all? { |key| params[key].present? }
+    params['year'] = '1000' if params['year'].blank?
+    if ['month', 'day'].all? { |key| params[key].present? }
       date = Date.new(params['year'].to_i, params['month'].to_i, params['day'].to_i)
       self.birthday = date
-    elsif ['year', 'month', 'day'].all? { |key| params[key] == '' }
+    elsif ['month', 'day'].all? { |key| params[key].blank? }
       self.birthday = nil
     end
   end
diff --git a/app/views/people/_profile_sidebar.html.haml b/app/views/people/_profile_sidebar.html.haml
index 892d151461898a9878358813d47235c0a69c4833..716ec46816e7dba81c81690bb939fe3216c893e5 100644
--- a/app/views/people/_profile_sidebar.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/people/_profile_sidebar.html.haml
@@ -54,5 +54,4 @@
           - unless person.profile.birthday.blank?
             %h3 
               =t('.born')
-            = t('ago', :time => time_ago_in_words(person.profile.birthday)) if @person.profile.birthday
-
+            = birthday_format(person.profile.birthday)
diff --git a/config/locales/diaspora/en.yml b/config/locales/diaspora/en.yml
index a4a8996784cfc74c64a3b00ed56626126416e00b..f7306f50902d6e4bf4fc5cdebf2dc0deebcafdbd 100644
--- a/config/locales/diaspora/en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/diaspora/en.yml
@@ -366,7 +366,7 @@ en:
           edit_my_profile: "Edit my profile"
           bio: "bio"
           gender: "gender"
-          born: "born"
+          born: "birthday"
           in_aspects: "in aspects"
           cannot_remove: "Cannot remove %{name} from last aspect. (If you want to disconnect from this person you must remove contact.)"
           remove_from: "Remove %{name} from %{aspect}?"