Zillennial Names

Zillennials are a micro-generation of people born between Millennials and Generation Z. It's a novel micro-generation that encompasses those who feel too old to relate to Gen Z, while also feeling too young to relate to Millennials regardless of how Pew Research Center categorized them as one or the other in respect to their birth year. This is because many of those cuspers have found Pew's generational markers to be rigid, as they either have nothing in common with the generation they are assigned to, or have struggled with fully aligning themselves with the traits, experiences and lifestyles associated with the generation Pew categorized them into, and instead, they identify as a mix of both generations (According to The New York Post). There are two ways to describe this micro-generation, one which I have discovered myself with most of them being born during the Clinton Administration, were in between infancy to middle childhood during the events of 9/11, were in school during the Great Recession, and were adults in their early-to-late 20s when the recent pandemic struck. Another description defines Zillennials as growing up with 90s and 2000s influence (although most of them are defined as 2000s kids) throughout their childhood, and later came of age within the 2010s, with most of them graduating high school within Obama's second term as president. They have also witnessed the digital transition of technology ranging from corded phones to cell phones, and eventually smartphones, to dial-up internet to high speed Wi-Fi as they grew up between the mid-to-late 1990s and the rest of the 2000s throughout their childhood. As a result, their childhood witnessed a mixture between analog and digital mediums growing up, with an example like watching VHS tapes on a television with a VCR to a Blu-Ray CD on a DVD Player, and lastly, streaming services. There is currently no generally agreed upon birth year range for Zillennials, despite most news articles and popular media using birth years between 1992 and1995 as starting birth years and 1998 to 2000 as ending birth years. For the time being, I made this list using names that peaked between 1992-2000 as names that "define" this micro-generation. I do understand if this is not the right approach of names that are considered "Zillennial", much like how Matthew and Jessica are Millennial names, whereas Caleb and Madison are Gen Z names. However, for the time being, I will stick with peak names, but the name list will be subject to change if there is any feedback; which I will appreciate to further shape this list until it is more accurate to the micro-generation, as a Zillennial myself.