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Millennials overtake Baby Boomers as America’s largest generation
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There's Generation X, and there's Generation Z, which is also sometimes called the iGen. You've also maybe heard of the G.I. generation, along with the Alphas and the Joneses. But are you familiar with the Lost Generation or The New Silent Generation? There's a lot to unpack as to how generations get their nicknames, why, and where each generation starts and ends. If you're feeling confused, read on. Below, you'll find a thorough breakdown of who belongs where and how these generational classifications got started.
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A generation is a group of people born around the same time who are often referred to collectively. Those given the same generational label are believed to share cultural traits and live under similar financial conditions. While most of us are familiar with buzzier titles like Baby Boomer or Millennial, different organizations have different names to describe each generation.
Generational theorists Neil Howe and William Strauss wrote the book Generations: The History of America's Future, which was first published back in 1991. The seminal text offers a breakdown of generational cohorts within the United States. They define each group as follows:
The Population Reference Bureau, a non-profit research organization, has also offered up their own list of dates and generation names. They break it up like so:
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The Center for Generational Kinetics studies generations still active in the American workforce. Instead of birth windows, the organization relies on parenting, technology, and economic trends to categorize each generation. Here's their breakdown:
The idea of naming each generation didn't take hold until the 20th century when author Gertrude Stein began referring to people who came of age during the First World War as "The Lost Generation." Her intention was to capture the disillusionment present in post-World War I society. According to friend and fellow author Ernest Hemingway, Stein picked up the phrase in conversation with a French farmer, who dismissed the younger generation as a “génération perdue.” Hemingway later used the same epigraph in his first major novel, The Sun Also Rises. Other famous names from this generation include James Joyce, C.S. Lewis, and Ezra Pound.
The next generation would not receive their designation until 1991 when Howe and Strauss hit the scene. In Generations, they refer to the generation tasked with fighting World War II as the G.I. Generation—G.I. standing for "government issue."
Less than a decade later, however, journalist Tom Brokaw's The Greatest Generation, a book about those who survived the Great Depression and World War II, hit shelves. His term began to supersede Howe and Strauss' in popular culture, though the "G.I. Generation" is still recognized as an appropriate title.
Famous members of this generation include John F. Kennedy and Rosa Parks.
Time first introduced the term "Silent Generation" in a 1951 article that read, "By comparison with the Flaming Youth of their fathers and mothers, today's younger generation is a still, small flame. It does not issue manifestoes, make speeches, or carry posters." Born into great uncertainty, individuals from this group were often written off as unimaginative and withdrawn. Famous individuals born in this decade include Robert DeNiro, Julie Andrews, and Anthony Fauci.
The Baby Boomer Generation are the individuals born during the U.S. baby boom that followed World War II. The term first appeared in a 1941 issue of LIFE Magazine in an article detailing the dramatic spike in births following the Great Depression and the Peacetime Draft of 1940 and claiming that “the U.S. baby boom is bad news for Hitler.”
According to data collected from the U.S. Census Bureau, an estimated 76 million births occurred between 1946 and 1964, including those of Bill Clinton, Billy Joel, and Steven Spielberg.
Unlike the other groups listed, Generation Jones is considered a "microgeneration," or a group of individuals born at the end of one generation and the beginning of another. The term was coined by television producer Jonathan Pontell, who later published a book with the same name. According to Pontell, the title aptly describes the competition these individuals felt with the Baby Boomers and the sense that they needed to continue "keeping up with the Joneses." It also lends itself to the perceived increase in drug use during that time and the associated slang. Some public figures that fall into this age group are Madonna, Bill Gates, and Barack Obama.
Howe and Strauss originally suggested the name "Thirteeners" to describe this generation, but it didn't stick. (They were the 13th generation born since the American Revolution). Instead, Canadian author Douglas Coupland was the one to give Gen Xers their most popular title. In 1991, his novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, a story about a group of 20-somethings looking for better meaning in life, was published. Famous members of this generation include Elon Musk, Eminem, and Kurt Cobain.
The Xennials are the second microgeneration on our list. This term was first introduced by writer Sarah Stankorb in an article titled "Reasonable People Disagree about the Post-Gen X, Pre-Millennial Generation." She explains that the generation of people born between 1977 and 1983 "serves as a bridge between the disaffection of Gen X and the blithe optimism of Millennials." Xennials in pop culture include Kourtney Kardashian, James Franco, and Macaulay Culkin.
The Millennial Generation marks a shift in naming conventions. While it's difficult to pinpoint exactly who came up with the title, here's what we do know: During the early '90s, media outlets often used the term "Generation Y'' to describe those born immediately after Generation X. Howard and Strauss include the term "Millennial" in their book to describe the cohort, while Advertising Age is credited with using the term in a 1993 editorial.
It wasn't until 2015 that the Millennial generation officially outnumbered the Baby Boomers, and in 2020 they became the country's most dominant generation. Millennials are also known for bringing about a "baby bust," or a sharp decrease in the birth rate. A few famous representatives of this age cohort are Taylor Swift, Mark Zuckerberg, and Beyoncé.
Most assume that Generation Z received its nickname as part of the alphabetical naming trend, though Jean Twenge, Ph.D, helped coin another popular moniker in her book, iGen, which explores the rise of the first generation to grow up with smartphones. A few notable names from this generation are Millie Bobby Brown, Greta Thunburg, and Billie Eilish.
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Gen Z may have had early access to now-ubiquitous technology, but Generation Alpha is the first to be growing up in a fully digital world. This term was first introduced by Mark McCrindle, founder of the Australian consultancy firm McCrindle Research, who explains, "It conforms to the scientific nomenclature of using the Greek alphabet instead of the Latin alphabet and there was no point in going back to A, after all they are the first generation born fully into the 21st century and therefore they are the start of something new, not a return to the old." Members of Generation Alpha include Prince George, North West, and Blue Ivy Carter.
The names listed above are specific to the U.S., but there are plenty of generational titles used in other parts of the world.
For instance, in South Africa, individuals born in 1994, or after the end of Apartheid, are commonly referred to as the Born Free Generation. There's also the Revolution Generation in Romania—those born in 1989 and after the collapse of communism.
In Norway, people born around 2000 are actually called "Generation Achievements," which makes sense coming from a place once dubbed the happiest country in the world.
That's all we have on generation names, but be sure to check back with us soon for even more awesome trivia. You can also sign up for our newsletter so you don't miss out on what's next.
This story has been updated to include additional fact-checking.
