Moon Phase Names

The phases of the Moon have been given the following names,
in sequential order:

Phase	Northern Hemisphere	Southern Hemisphere	Visibility	Standard time of culmination (mid-phase)
New moon	Not visible, traditionally Moon's first visible crescent		after sunset	12 noon
Waxing crescent moon	Right 1–49% visible	Left 1–49% visible	afternoon and post-dusk	3 pm
First quarter moon	Right 50% visible	Left 50% visible	afternoon and early night	6 pm
Waxing gibbous moon	Right 51–99% visible	Left 51–99% visible	late afternoon and most of night	9 pm
Full moon	Fully visible	Fully visible	sunset to sunrise (all night)	12 midnight
Waning gibbous moon	Left 51–99% visible	Right 51–99% visible	most of night and early morning	3 am
Third quarter moon	Left 50% visible	Right 50% visible	late night and morning	6 am
Waning crescent moon	Left 1–49% visible	Right 1–49% visible	pre-dawn and morning	9 am
Dark moon	Not visible, traditionally Moon's last visible crescent		before sunrise	12 noon

When the Sun and Moon are aligned on the same side of the Earth the Moon is "new", and the side of the Moon visible from Earth is not illuminated by the Sun. As the Moon waxes (the amount of illuminated surface as seen from Earth is increasing), the lunar phases progress from new moon, crescent moon, first-quarter moon, gibbous moon and full moon phases, before returning through the gibbous moon, third-quarter (or last quarter) moon, crescent moon and new moon phases. The terms old moon and new moon are interchangeable, although new moon is more common. Half moon is often used to mean the first- and third-quarter moons, while the term 'quarter' refers to the extent of the moon's cycle around the Earth, not its shape.

Related Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_phase