Aquamarine is the modern March birthstone and has been since 1912. Older lists offered bloodstone (heliotrope), the dark green chalcedony with red iron-oxide spots, which still appears on traditional tables and which some jewelers and practitioners prefer for March.
The two stones could hardly be more different in look, and that is part of why March is one of the most flexible months to shop for: a reader can pick the ice-blue beryl or the earthy green-and-red chalcedony with equal tradition behind either.
This page leads with aquamarine because that is the piece most US jewelers will show a reader first. Bloodstone gets its own detailed treatment below.
Aquamarine: the modern March birthstone
Aquamarine is the blue variety of beryl, the same mineral family as emerald, morganite, heliodor, and goshenite. Its color comes from a small amount of iron in the lattice. The best stones have a clean sea-blue with a faint green cast.
Brazil, Nigeria, Madagascar, and Pakistan are important sources, and the Santa Maria locality in Brazil historically gave the deepest saturation.
Top March gemstone picks
A short history of the March stone
Aquamarine takes its name from the Latin aqua marina, sea water. Roman sailors carried it as a talisman for safe voyages. Medieval lapidaries attribute it to the planet Neptune and tie it to honesty and calm temper.
The American jewelers association formalised aquamarine as the modern March birthstone in 1912, displacing bloodstone in the modern tables though not in every regional tradition.
Meaning and tradition
Practitioners have long associated aquamarine with courage, clear communication, and safe travel over water. Modern crystal tradition places it at the throat chakra where practitioners report using it to steady nervous speech.
In folklore, brides sometimes carried aquamarine for harmony at the altar, which is part of why it still shows up in fifth and nineteenth anniversary gift lists today.
- Traditional associations are not medical advice.
- If communication difficulty has a health root, please see a qualified clinician.
Is aquamarine the right March birthstone for you?
- You like clean pale blues that read fresh year round.
- You want a hard stone that takes daily ring wear.
- You want a gift that suggests calm rather than drama.
- You prefer stones that look good in open prong settings to show color.
- You want deep saturation; fine aquamarine is usually pale.
- You want warm-toned stones; this is a cool blue.
- You were hoping for bloodstone (consider the traditional stone below).
Bloodstone: the traditional alternate
Bloodstone (heliotrope) is a dark green chalcedony with iron-oxide red spots. It is Mohs 7, opaque, and usually cut en cabochon. Folklore associates bloodstone with courage, endurance, and protection on the battlefield.
For a March reader who wants a stone with gravity rather than sparkle, bloodstone is a meaningful choice and a visually distinctive one.
Gift ideas and pairings
For a March birthday, a pale aquamarine emerald cut in white gold reads clean and modern. For someone who prefers yellow gold, a softer pear cut aquamarine in a halo of tiny diamonds is a forgiving look. Aquamarine pairs well with morganite (for a sibling-birthday family piece) and with pearl for softness.
Bloodstone pairs with onyx in men’s signet work and with rose gold for a warmer reading.
Zodiac overlap for March
March spans Pisces (through March 20) and Aries (from March 21). Pisces is traditionally a water sign that pairs easily with aquamarine. Aries is a fire sign that is usually given warmer stones like carnelian or red jasper; some Aries readers swap the birthstone for the zodiac stone for this reason.