How to put year and month in a variable

I want to create a variable that just shows the current year (like 2010) and another variable that shows the month and year (December 2010). I have had no luck. I tried modifying the definition of unneeded system variables. That works, but it seems prone to "slippage": when importing variables from one doc to another, it's too easy to overwrite the customized system variables. Or maybe there's something in Frame that is resetting them to the default. Anyway, I'd prefer to create new variables to do this. Here's some of what I have tried:

Variable Definition                         How it shows in the doc

<$monthname> <$year>     <$monthname<$year

<$monthname\> <$year\>   (it showed nothing)

<$monthname>> <$year>>   <$monthname<$year

I am using Frame 8.0p277, with Windows XP SP3.

Any advice will be appreciated.