{"id":1664,"date":"2022-12-25T05:00:42","date_gmt":"2022-12-24T19:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/2dpoint.net\/?p=1664"},"modified":"2022-12-25T21:37:37","modified_gmt":"2022-12-25T11:37:37","slug":"how-generations-get-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2dpoint.net\/how-generations-get-names\/","title":{"rendered":"How do Generations get names such as Baby Boomers, Generation X and Millennials?"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

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1. {tooltip}Different countries can have different names{end-text}For example, in South Africa, people born after 1994 are called born-free generation because they were born after the end of apartheid{end-tooltip} for their generations.<\/li>\n
2. But the generation naming we come across most (Baby Boomers, Generation X, etc.) is a western concept driven mainly by the US.<\/li>\n
3. Following WWII, there was a boom in the birth rate in America.<\/li>\n
4. From 1946 to 1964, on average, four million babies were born per year compared to the average of three million per year in the previous years\u2014 the growth flattened again after 1964.<\/li>\n
5. This \u2018baby boom\u2019 was first reported in media in 1951 after the 1950 census.<\/li>\n
6. When the first batch of this generation enrolled in colleges in massive numbers in the 1960s, the term \u2018baby boomers<\/a>\u2019 first appeared in the media.<\/li>\n
7. This generation had a massive impact on consumption and, therefore, the economy.<\/li>\n
8. For example, when they reached the car-buying age, car sales boomed.<\/li>\n
9. So, it became necessary for economists and advertisers to study this generation in detail.<\/li>\n
10. Labelling makes things easier to understand to the human mind\u2014imagine comparing \u2018those born between 1946 and 1964\u2019 to \u2018Baby Boomers\u2019.<\/li>\n
11. So, advertisers, expectedly, used \u2018Baby Boomers\u2019 for their studies.<\/li>\n
12. And to compare data for Baby Boomers with that of the previous generations, they had to name the previous generations as well.<\/li>\n
13. Thus came the labels\u00a0\u2018The Greatest Generation\u2019 (born between 1901 and 1927) & \u2018Silent Generation\u2019\u00a0(born between 1928 and 1945).<\/li>\n
14. For the post-boomer generation (1965-1980), several names came and went before Generation X\u00a0registered itself with the public.<\/li>\n
15. The book, Generation X<\/i><\/a>, published in 1991, is credited with this generation\u2019s name.<\/li>\n
16. The book was written by Douglas Coupland, born in 1961.<\/li>\n
17. Reportedly, he was sick of being associated with a generation characterised by status, money, and material consumption, which became his book’s theme.<\/li>\n
18. The book with chapter titles such as \u2018I Am Not A Target Market\u2019 and \u2018Adventure Without Risk Is Disneyland\u2019 reflected a rebellious generation that distrusted the establishment.<\/li>\n
19. While this happened, two\u00a0researchers, William Strauss and Neil Howe, were working on a new theory called the Generational Theory.<\/li>\n
20. The Generational Theory concluded that every 15 years or so, a new generation is born that is tied together by common themes such as age, social environment, beliefs, and behaviours.<\/li>\n
21. So, by the early 2000s, it was time to name the generation (1980 – 2000) that came after Generation X.<\/li>\n
22. And the obvious choice was Generation Y, but it didn\u2019t stick.<\/li>\n
23. Then a book,\u00a0Millennials Rising<\/i><\/a>, by these two researchers\u00a0popularised the label \u2018Millennials\u2019 for those born after 1980.<\/li>\n
24. Today, this label is used for anyone born between 1980 and 1996.<\/li>\n
25. For those born after 1996, Generation Z has the highest recall, while several other names (iGen, Homelanders, etc.) have failed.<\/li>\n
26. Labels are about \u2018what sticks\u2019 (i.e. what names the big media organisations start using).<\/li>\n
27. The cutoff years (till what year to include) are no exact science\u2014different sources use different years to study different generations.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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