baby boomer

A baby boomer is a person who was born during the demographic Post-World War II "baby boom" between 1946 - 1964.

A main feature of boomers is that they tend to think of themselves as a special generation. The baby boom has been described variously as a "shockwave" and as "the pig in the python." By the sheer force of its numbers, the boomers were a demographic bulge which remodeled society as it passed through it.

Baby boomers are associated with a rejection or redefinition of traditional values (or those of the "traditionalists" the generation before them). As a group, they were the healthiest and wealthiest generation to that time, and among the first to grow up genuinely expecting the world to improve with time.

Here's how the generations play out:

• Traditionalists are born between 1928 - 1945
• Baby boomers are born between 1946 - 1964
• Generation X are born between 1965 - 1980
• Generation Y are born between 1981 - 1995
• Generation Z are born between 1996 - 2009
• Generation Alpha are born between 2010 - now

Historical perspective: The term "baby boomer" was coined by Landon Jones in his book "Great Expectations: America and the Baby Boom Generation." The term "Generation Jones" was used by Jonathan Pontell to distinguish those born from 1954 onward from the earlier baby boomers.