public static void Main() { var InputMonths = new List <string> { "January", "march", "sepTEmber", "smarch" }; var MonthNames = new DateTimeFormatInfo().MonthNames.ToList(); var InputMonthNumbers = new List <int>(); foreach (var m in InputMonths) { //Find index of the month name, ignoring case //Note if the input month name is invalid, FindIndex will return 0 int month_num = 1 + MonthNames.FindIndex(name => name.Equals(m, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)); if (month_num > 0) { InputMonthNumbers.Add(month_num); } } foreach (var n in InputMonthNumbers) { Console.WriteLine(n.ToString()); } }