Common Era and you are correct. When I was in grade school we all thought that BC meant "before Christ" and that AD meant "after death." It was nonsense. As for what year we are really in it depends on what calendar people are using. Do a search on Ethiopia. They are not in 2018.

@DenoPenno I had a friend who lived and worked in Ethiopia for several years. Long enough to need a local drivers license. When he came into NY and needed to rent a car,, hilarity ensued. Their year is four years before ours since they don’t count the years of occupation. The license seemed to have expired.

@DenoPenno BC is indeed ‘Before Christ’, AD is Anno Domini (in the year of our lord. That’s why it’s now CE as the others are Christian.

@Cassiopeia Actually 'Anno Domini' is from the Latin words, Anno does mean YEAR, but Domini is the PLURAL of the Latin 'dominus' meaning Master, not Lord therefore Anno Domini in the religious sense as previously used truly means 'In the Year of OUR MASTERS.'

In my understanding CE (Common Era) actually relates to the year Jesus supposedly was crucified and died. Further speculation has Jesus being born 33 years ealier. The time before death is known as BCE Before Common Era. I could be wrong. but this is the way I was presented it in college.

@Triphid well, I am not going to argue with both the Oxford and the Cambridge dictionaries, who both say it means ‘the year of our Lord’.

[dictionary.cambridge.org]

[en.oxforddictionaries.com]

@Cassiopeia BCE is now the accepted dating instead of BC. It is before our common era.

@DenoPenno yes, I know that, it has nothing to do with my comment. I was replying to triphid who said that anno domino did not mean in the year of our lord.

@DenoPenno - ok then. It’s just that you tagged me, which is confusing if you are replying to someone else

@Cassiopeia Well you can do that if you like BUT I was only stating a Latin Grammatical FACT.

@Triphid - it is a contraction.of ‘anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi’, you can’t just translate the two words independently.

Oxford and Cambridge are two of the most respected academic institutions in the world.