Different generations have had different names. The concept of a generation in society is based on “its members’ shared experience of defining events and formative experiences–for example, World War II, Woodstock, the Cold War, divorce, AIDS, the Internet, 9/11″ (American Libraries, March 2006, p. 37).

There appears to be general agreement that today’s workforce consists of four generations:

  • 1922-1945 – Veterans (aka the Silent Generation, Great Generation, and World War II Generation)
  • 1946-1964 – Baby Boomers (aka Boomers)
  • 1965-1978 – GenX (aka Baby Bust)
  • 1979-2000 – GenY (aka Millennials, Net Gen, N-Gen, Nexters, and Echo Boomers)

So there it is. :-)