A Comprehensive List of Generation Names

Generations in the United States are defined as social groups of people born within a defined time period that share similar cultural traits, values, and preferences. In the United States today, most people identify as Millennials, Xers, or Boomers. While generational names have existed for years, their regular use is a fairly recent cultural phenomenon. A Brief History of Naming Generations Historians generally agree that generational naming began in the 20th-century. It was deceased American writer Gertrude Stein who coined the term Lost Generation in her work. She bestowed this title on those born around the turn of the 20th-century who devoted their lives to service during World War I. In the epigram to Ernest Hemingways The Sun Also Rises, published in 1926, Stein famously wrote, You are all a lost generation. The 20th Century As for the rest of the generations? Generational theorists Neil Howe and William Strauss are usually credited with identifying and naming U.S. 20th-century generations in their 1991 book titled Generations. Most of these labels stuck. In this study, the two historians identified the generation that fought World War II as the G.I. (short for Government Issue) Generation, but this name would soon be replaced. Less than a decade later, Tom Brokaw published The Greatest Generation a best-selling cultural history of the Great Depression and World War II, and that namesake is still used today. Generation X Canadian author Douglas Coupland, born in 1961 at the tail end of the Baby Boom, was responsible for naming the generation that followed his own. Couplands 1991 book Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture and later works chronicled the lives of 20-somethings and came to be seen as an accurate representation of that eras youth. Without knowing it, Coupland permanently named Gen X Did You Know? Generational theorists Neil Howe and William Strauss suggested the name Thirteeners (for the 13th generation born since the American Revolution) for Generation X, but the term never caught on. Most Recent Generations The origins of generations following Generation X are much less clear. In the early 1990s, the children born post-Gen X were often referred to as Generation Y by media outlets like Advertising Age, which is recognized as being the first to use the term in 1993. But by the mid-90s, amidst commotion about the turn of the 21st century, this generation was more often referred to as Millennials, a term Howe and Strauss first used in their book. There is now a Generation X and a Millenial generation. The name for the most recent generation is even more variable. Some prefer Generation Z, continuing the alphabetical trend begun with Generation X, while others prefer buzzier titles like Centennials or the iGeneration. What will come in the future is anyones guess and with each new generation comes more disagreement. Generation Names Some generations such as Baby Boomers are known by one name only, but other generations have many titles to choose from and these cause no small amount of dispute among experts.  Read a few alternative systems of categorizing and naming generations below. Howe and Strauss Neil Howe and William Strauss define generational cohorts in the U.S. from 1900 to 2015 as follows. 2000-: New Silent Generation or Generation Z1980 to 2000: Millennials or Generation Y1965 to 1979: Thirteeners or Generation X1946 to 1964:  Baby Boomers1925 to 1945: the Silent Generation1900 to 1924: the G.I. Generation Population Reference Bureau The Population Reference Bureau  provides an alternate listing and chronology of generational names from 1889 to 2001 in the United States. 1983 to 2001: New Boomers1965 to 1982: Generation X1946 to 1964: Baby Boomers1929 to 1945: Lucky Few1909 to 1928: Good Warriors1890 to 1908: Hard Timers1871 to 1889: New Worlders Center for Generational Kinetics The Center for Generational Kinetics lists the following five generations who are currently active in Americas economy and workforce, not including those born after 2009. 1996 to 2009: Gen Z,  iGen, or Centennials1977 to 1995:  Millennials  or Gen Y1965 to 1976: Generation X1946 to 1964: Baby Boomers1945 and before: Traditionalists or the Silent Generation What About the Youngest Generation? Australian researcher Mark McCrindle can claim the credit for naming the youngest cohort, which other platforms leave out and have failed to update: he called those born from 2010-2024 Generation Alpha. In his book The ABC of XYZ: Understanding the Global Generations, McCrindle nods to theories presented in Howe and Strauss research by referring to the children of millennials as alpha on the basis that this generation will most likely grow up in a period of rebirth and recovery. Generation Alpha, the first generation born entirely in the 21st century, marks a fresh start for the economy, political climate, environment, and more. Generational Naming Outside of the United States While the concept of social generations is a largely Western notion, generational naming is not unique to this region. Other nations name their generations too, though these are most often influenced by local or regional events and less by unofficial social and cultural zeitgeists. In South Africa, for example, people born after the end of apartheid in 1994 are referred to as the Born-Free Generation. Romanians born after the collapse of communism in 1989 are sometimes called the Revolution Generation.   Sources Brokaw, Tom.  The Greatest Generation. Random House, 2005.Carlson, Elwood. â€Å"20th-Century U.S. Generations.†Ã‚  Population Reference Bureau, 4 Mar. 2009.Coupland, Douglas.  Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. 1st ed., St. Martins Griffin, 1991.â€Å"Generational Breakdown: Info About All of the Generations.† The Center for Generational Kinetics.Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises. Hemingway Library Edition, Reprint Edition, Scribner, July 25, 2002.Howe, Neil. Generations: The History of Americas Future, 1584 to 2069. William Strauss, Paperback, Reprint edition, Quill, September 30, 1992.McCrindle, Mark, et al.  The ABC of XYZ: Understanding the Global Generations. UNSW Press, 2009.