The alt.usage.english FAQ   

• "A.D."

  (Word Origins)
  
  

  
     "A.D." stands for _Anno Domini_ = "in the year of the Lord", not
  for "after the death".
  
     Most stylebooks prescribe placing "A.D." before the year:
  "Arminius died A.D. 21."  WDEU calls this "the traditional and still
  most frequently used styling" (the OED has citations from 1579 on);
  but Collins English Dictionary says "this is no longer general
  practice."  Placing "A.D." after the year is, if anything, better
  supported by precedents from Classical Latin (whose word order was
  flexible enough that either placement would be grammatical):  the
  ancient Romans did not use A.D. dating, but Cicero (_Pro Flacco_ I)
  has _quingentesimo anno rei publicae_ = "in the five-hundredth year
  of the state".

  
  
  Source: [Mark Israel, 'Word Origins: "A.D."', The alt.usage.english FAQ file,(line 3031), (29 Sept 1997)]
  
  
  
  

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