Why is Gen Z called ‘Gen Z’? Who are Boomers, Millennials, Gen Alpha, and who decides these generation names? Story behind it is…

Why is Gen Z called Gen Z? It is a question many people ask as terms like Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha become common in conversations, social media, workplaces and marketing campaigns. While these labels may sound official, there is actually no global authority that decides what each generation should be called.

Instead, generation names become popular through researchers, historians, authors, demographers, media organisations and marketers. If a name is widely accepted by the public, it gradually becomes the standard way to describe people born during a particular period.

Who are Boomers, Millennials, Gen Z and Gen Alpha?

The Baby Boomers are generally people born between 1946 and 1964. They were followed by Generation X, which includes those born roughly between 1965 and 1980.

The term “Generation X” became popular after Canadian author Douglas Coupland published his 1991 novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. The letter “X” represented a generation that was seen as difficult to define and less interested in traditional labels.

The next generation was first known as Generation Y because it followed Gen X alphabetically. However, historians William Strauss and Neil Howe later introduced the term “Millennials” in their 1991 book Generations. The name referred to people who would become adults around the year 2000, and it soon replaced Generation Y in everyday language.

Why is Generation Z called Gen Z?

Once Millennials received their own distinct name, the following generation naturally became Generation Z. The name simply reflects its place after Millennials in the timeline. Gen Z generally includes people born between the late 1990s and early 2010s, although the exact birth years may differ depending on the organisation.

Gen Z is widely recognised as the first generation to grow up with smartphones, high-speed internet and social media from an early age, making them true digital natives.

What comes after Gen Z?

After Gen Z, the naming system moved beyond the English alphabet. Australian social researcher Mark McCrindle proposed using the Greek alphabet, leading to the name Gen Alpha for children born between around 2010 and 2024.

The next generation, born from about 2025 onwards, is expected to be called Gen Beta. Future generations are likely to continue the Greek naming pattern with names such as Gen Gamma and Gen Delta.