• @RovingFox
    link
    194 months ago

    My question is who comes up with these names?? Is there a commission I was never invited?

    • @9point6@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      30
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      Baby boomers (named after the post war baby boom that created them) started it by calling the generation following them “generation X”. Then millennials were gen Y for a while before the millennial rebrand after the turn of the millennium for some reason. Gen Z got the nickname zoomer pretty much because it rhymes with boomer. Then we ran out of letters because the boomers decided to start at the wrong end of the alphabet, so we’re doing the Greek alphabet now. Thus gen alpha, who haven’t been around long enough to develop an identity resulting in a catchier nickname.

      Given generations seem to be about 15 years or so, the line for gen beta kids is just around the corner I guess

      • @XeroxCool@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        64 months ago

        Exactly, it takes time to get a non-sequential name. I haven’t heard Gen Y in probably a decade. I still hear Genzie but I suspect it’s partly waiting for the Zoomer adoption, partly due to being the easiest to say. Jennay is smooth but not too clear as a standalone word, needing context like “PIN number”

      • @pixelscript@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        34 months ago

        Thus gen alpha, who haven’t been around long enough to develop an identity resulting in a catchier nickname.

        “iPad babies” seems to be the closest thing we have at the moment. Only time will tell if that sticks.