Etymology and birth date
Xennials is a portmanteau blending the words Generation X and Millennials to describe a "micro-generation" [6] [7] or "cross-over generation" [8] of people whose birth years are between the mid- to late 1970s and the early to mid-1980s. [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] Other terms, such as the Star Wars Generation, the Oregon Trail Generation [14] and Generation Catalano [15] have been proposed.
Xennials was coined by writer Sarah Stankorb, [2] and discussed in a two-part, September 2014 article in GOOD magazine [12] written by Stankorb, a freelance writer, and then-GOOD Magazine staff writer Jed Oelbaum. [16] Good magazine has described Xennials as "a micro-generation that serves as a bridge between the disaffection of Gen X and the blithe optimism of Millennials."
Doree Shafrir, writing for Slate magazine, chose "Generation Catalano" for its reference to the character Jordan Catalano, played by Jared Leto (b. 1971), from the mid 1990's teen drama My So-Called Life . She defined "Generation Catalano" as those born from 1977 to 1981, the timeframe of Jimmy Carter's presidency. [15]
Dan Woodman, a professor of social and political sciences at Melbourne University in Australia, said that he "inadvertently" helped popularise the term when journalist Rachel Curtis asked him if it would make sense to cut the generations differently in an article that soon captured the internet's attention. [17] Xennials received additional attention in June 2017 following a viral Facebook post by Mashable. [18]
In 2017, The Guardian noted, "In internet folklore, xennials are those born between 1977 and 1983, the release years of the original three Star Wars films." [19] Marleen Stollen, Gisela Wolf, Shana Lebowitz and Allana Akhtar, writing for Business Insider, described Xennials as people who don't feel like a Generation Xer or a Millennial, using birth dates between 1977 and 1985. [20] [21] [22]
Alastair Greener, a generational communication expert, in his 2025 book titled Generationally Speaking: How to bridge the generation gap and communicate with confidence, defines Xennials as those born between 1979 and 1982. [23] Authors Hannah Ubl, Lisa Walden and Debra Arbit define Gen X/Millennial cuspers as those born between 1976 and 1982. [24]
Characteristics and traits
Many people who were born during the cusp years of Generation X and the Millennials do not fit the mold of those generations but rather share the characteristics of both. [15] [25] [26]
The Generation X and Millennial demographic cohorts have been studied concerning generational differences in the workplace. [27] Researchers out of Eindhoven University of Technology found that not every person that belongs to a major generation will share all the same characteristics that are representative for that generation. People that are born on the cusp of a birth cohort may have overlapping characteristics that are related to both. This concept is called "generational fuzziness", and can lead to the formation of a "microgeneration". [28] Researcher Melissa Kempf Taylor of the University of Louisville has written that the current microgeneration in the workforce is the Xennial generation, who have their own collective personality. "In generational theory, a cusp is the group of individuals who fall into the overlap between two generations. [...] This overlap creates a cusp generation" which bridges the divide between "major generations". [29] Xennials possess an invaluable set of skills that brings great value to any workplace setting. Their ability to rapidly adapt between new technologies and traditional systems makes them a beneficial asset for any business looking for employees. [30]
In 2004, Cynthia Cheng wrote a piece for the Toronto Star entitled "My So-Called Generation", where she referred to the cohort as "Bridges". [31]
Marleen Stollen and Gisela Wolf of Business Insider Germany wrote that Xennials "had to bridge the divide between an analog childhood and digital adulthood", [20] while Australian researchers Andrew Fluck and Tony Dowden characterized the generation's pre-service teachers as "straddl[ing] the two worlds of the ballpoint pen and the computer mouse." Fluck and Dowden also described Xennials as the youngest digital immigrants since, unlike students of later generations, most Xennials had relatively little, if any, exposure to digital ICT as part of their schooling. [32] As working adults, however, Xennials tend to be relatively comfortable using digital technology compared to digital-immigrant workers of earlier generations. [33]
British journalist Esther Walker, interviewed for a podcast by Radio New Zealand, said that Xennials "do occupy a very precarious and unusual space between these hardcore Gen Xers who went to raves and smoked and did a lot of drugs and these Millenials who were parented by early gen-Xers and had things smoothed out for them." [34]
Cassie McClure, writing for Las Cruces Sun-News , described those in the Oregon Trail Generation as "remembering a time before the digital age, but barely". [35] Anna Garvey has described these individuals as having "both a healthy portion of Gen X grunge cynicism, and a dash of the unbridled optimism of Millennials", and discusses their relationship with both analog and digital technology. [36] Sarah Stankorb, writing for Vogue, stated that the Xennial group "was never cynical enough to be truly grunge, but not nearly as cheerfully helicopter-parented as millennial participation-trophy kids." [37] Lisa Fogarty, writing for Sheknows, has described individuals born in the late 1970s and early 1980s as sharing traits with both Generation X and Millennials. [38]
Anna Garvey characterized US members of this group as having had an "AOL adolescence" and as being from "the last gasp of a time before sexting, Facebook shaming, and constant communication". [36] Dustin Monke of The Dickinson Press described those born in the early 1980s as having early adulthoods being impacted by the events of the September 11 attacks and the Iraq War. [39]
"There are common experiences," explains Almudena Moreno, sociologist at the University of Valladolid and co-author of the Youth Report in Spain 2012, "and one of the differences between generations can be access to technological instruments, which provide a common living context." This context also influences how we relate to others. [40] According to Australian sociologist Dan Woodman, "[t]he theory goes that the Xennials dated, and often formed ongoing relationships, pre-social media. They usually weren't on Tinder or Grindr, for their first go at dating at least. They called up their friends and the person they wanted to ask out on a landline phone, hoping that it wasn't their intended date's parent who picked up." [8] Woodman has referred to Xennials as a "cross-over generation" crediting this concept to journalists writing about individuals born during the cusp years, saying that this idea sounds plausible with respect to generations because "the divisions we use aren’t particularly robust. They tend to be imported from North America without much thought, built arbitrarily around the Boomers, and capture changes that often don’t have clear inflection points, so dates can vary." [6] However, he warns that an entire cohort of people will not have one set of characteristics or experiences. [6] Woodman also says: "Clearly the idea resonates with a lot of people who felt left out by the usual categorizations." [8] This does not mean that these terms have no value. As Woodman explains, paraphrasing philosopher José Ortega y Gasset, "we are formed by the time in which we live", especially by the experiences of our youth, "which determine our lives and can create new political movements". [40]
According to author Lesley Prosko, Xennials "have the cynicism of Gen Xers, but also the positivity of millenials." She also states that "Xennials often felt controlled by their helicopter parents throughout their own childhood, evolving into 'drone parents' whereby they are always nearby but don't direct their children ..." [41]
Authors Hannah Ubl, Lisa Walden and Debra Arbit said that as kids and early teens, Xer/Millennial cuspers "witnessed the switch from no Internet to dial-up, and from computers being things reserved for NASA scientists to owning a personal Dell at home." They also stated that events such as the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, the Columbine shootings or Princess Diana's death were influential events that shaped these cuspers. [42]
Jonathan Heaf, writing for GQ UK magazine said that Xennials "had an analogue upbringing but have evolved to be fluent(-ish) in all things digital." He also stated that they "were born too early to be wafty, moany, experience-obsessed millennials, yet born too late to be grouped together with the rave-hardened gen Xs." [43]
Christopher Dwyer, writing for Psychology Today, described Xennials as "Ninja Turtle–loving, neon-color clothes–wearing, pog-smashing, NES-controller bashing, Hulkamaniacs who had become teenagers when the Spice Girls took over the world and who entered adulthood as the World Trade Center was attacked." [44]
In early childhood, Xennials began listening to music on a Walkman using cassette tapes, during their adolescence they moved onto compact discs and during their university years they were the first to illegally download MP3 files from Napster according to author Davide Sisto in his 2021 book titled Remember Me-Memory and Forgetting in the Digital Age. [45]
Authors Fons Trompenaars and Peter Woolliams wrote that Xennials "tend to display their emotions more than their elders and consider societal issues like women's rights worth fighting for." [46]
Political activity
According to Annabelle Dickson, writing for Politico, Britain's youngest prime minister Rishi Sunak and his staffers were all part of the same Xennial cohort. She also stated that "unlike their Gen X predecessors, the Xennials were still children when Margaret Thatcher was in her pomp. The Conservative prime minister had left office by the time they hit their politically-formative mid-to-late teens and early 20s, even if her legacy lingered on." [47]
According to British journalist Esther Walker, the resigning of New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern was the "most Xennial thing ever", she stated that "Generation X would be there until they were dragged out… no excuses, never say die, Rip Curl, riding big waves madness ... Millennials would have been made too freaked out by the internet to do anything," [48]
Economic activity
The Xennial shopper right now is in or near their peak earning potential with peak responsibilities: caregiving for both kids and parents, homeownership, and demands at work. Those responsibilities make this customer a crucial point of connection between demographics. They're known by retailers to have higher basket sizes and more brand loyalty. Katherine Power, an American serial entrepreneur who targets Xennial female shoppers, said: "By targeting that micro-segment, it's helped us reach the generation below her and the generation above her", and that Xennials "have this millennial mindset in a lot of ways, but the tradition and nostalgia of Gen X" [49]
Hannah Fearn, writing for Independent, wrote: "Economically, Xennials were the last of the lucky. They graduated with no or comparatively little student debt into a booming economy. Most had settled into initially stable jobs and careers before the 2008 financial crash and the allied housing bust. A proportion had already become homeowners before this moment too." [50]
