There have been two Linux Mint releases per year, generally timed one month after Ubuntu releases. Each version of Linux Mint is given an integer version number and is codenamed with a feminine first name ending in "a" and beginning with a letter of the alphabet that increases with every iteration.[7] Since the mid-2008 v5 every fourth release has been labeled a long-term support (LTS) version, indicating that it is supported (with updates) for longer, three years for v5 and v9, and five years thereafter.