Convert month name to month number in SQL Server

Question

In T-SQL what is the best way to convert a month name into a number?

E.g:

\'January\' -> 1
\'February\' -> 2
\'March\' -> 3

Answer 1

I know this may be a bit too late but the most efficient way of doing this through a CTE as follows:

 WITH Months AS
    (
       SELECT 1 x
       UNION all
       SELECT x + 1
       FROM Months
       WHERE x < 12

     )
     SELECT x AS MonthNumber, DateName( month , DateAdd( month , x , -1 ))            AS MonthName FROM Months