The full form of BC is "Before Christ". It refers to the period of time before the birth of Jesus Christ. AD stands for "Anno Domini," which is Latin for "the year of our Lord," and represents the years after Christ was born. CE stands for "Common Era," "Christian Era," or "Current Era" and represents years 1-2015 (at the time this was written) . BCE stands for "Before Common Era," "Before Christian Era," or "Before Current Era" and represents the time before the last 2015 years. BCE and BC represent the same time frame, but with BCE, the religious aspect is removed. The same goes for AD and CE (the religious aspect is removed with CE) .