Born on the cusp of two different demographic groups? Find your micro-generation tribe here 

Have you heard? The Prime Minister has hired a ‘Xennial’. Not one, actually, but a whole posse of them. They’re pretty much taking over the government. ‘Rishi Sunak has ushered in a new dawn at No 10. The age of the Xennial has come!’ announced The Times recently.

What on earth, you may ask, is a Xennial? Some kind of AI bot? A tribe from the forthcoming new Dune movie? In fact, it’s a person born between 1977 and 1983. We are talking about a micro-generation here – the intersectional sliver between Generation X and Millennial – and they’re very fashionable just now. Sunak’s new political secretary James Forsyth is one. The PM is in the gang, too. Prince Harry just missed the mark but will, no doubt, be delighted for big brother William who has made the team.

The Xennial is also referred to as the ‘Geriatric Millennial’ – although, understandably, not by them. ‘The Geriatric Millennial… is becoming ever present,’ said another Times article (they’re generating a lot of column inches since Sunak started collecting them). ‘They still don fashionable glasses, albeit with stronger prescriptions.’

The important point about Xennials – about all the micro-generations, in fact – is that they have distinctive, generationally blended characteristics. Some may argue that the names for the various age groups are already confusing enough (and if that’s you, then refer to our box, above). The Silent Generation. Er, why? Gen Z. OK, if you say so. Is there really any need to muddy these waters further?

Another way of looking at it, however, is that the current generational bands are too broad to be useful. Take the Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964). A lot of stuff happened between those dates. Is it reasonable to assume that someone who was born a year after the end of the Second World War and came of age over the Summer of Love has the same outlook as someone conceived in the swinging 60s who got the vote as Argentina invaded the Falklands?

You can see the problem.

So maybe Sunak is on to something with his Downing Street tribe. Here’s a guide to the four micro-generations (they slide neatly between the four main ones that account for most of the adult population). Think of being in a micro-gen as like being on the cusp of two star signs: you’re special. Here’s why…

ZENNIALS (BORN 1993 TO 1999)

With many traits in common with Gen Z, this is a group of ‘digital natives’ in that most cannot remember a world without the internet or social media. Examples include Lily-Rose Depp (left) and Florence Pugh

Like full Gen-Zers, Zennials have little expectation of a mortgage or a job for life, so in some ways they’ve got more in common with the free-spirit Boomer generation. Pictured, Jaden Smith, who was born in 1998

Unlike the full-Millennials, Zennials are pragmatists so they’ll happily talk feelings but will bail out before the crying (or the heavy drinking) starts. Pictured, Daisy Edgar-Jones (born in 1998)

Yes, you guessed it, this is the junction between the youngest adults alive today (Gen Z) and those of the Millennial generation.

With many traits in common with Gen Z, this is a group of ‘digital natives’ in that most cannot remember a world without the internet or social media. As youth site popsugar.co.uk asked: ‘Wonder if you’re too old for TikTok, and still (kind of, sometimes) like skinny jeans? You just might be a Zennial!’

Like full Gen-Zers, Zennials have little expectation of a mortgage or a job for life, so in some ways they’ve got more in common with the free-spirit Boomer generation.

Unlike the full-Millennials, Zennials are pragmatists so they’ll happily talk feelings but will bail out before the crying (or the heavy drinking) starts.

XENNIALS (BORN 1977 TO 1983) 

Prince Harry just missed the mark but William (pictured, born in 1982) has made the Xennial team

These are described as being ‘stuffed in between Generation X head-bangers and weeping Millennials’, examples including Tom Hardy (left) and Michael Fassbender (right)

The thing that hard-as-nails Gen X-ers find most baffling about their younger neighbours is their propensity for public displays of emotion. Pictured, Kourtney Kardashian, born in 1979

They can turn empathy on and off like a tap – fortress-like when the occasion demands it – but are also able to conduct a detailed tour of your emotional landscape. Pictured, Beyoncé, born in 1981

Described as being ‘stuffed in between Generation X head-bangers and weeping Millennials’.

The thing that hard-as-nails Gen X-ers find most baffling about their younger neighbours is their propensity for public displays of emotion. ‘What do you mean it’s OK to cry in the office? Presumably you mean locked in a toilet cubicle. In the basement. On a Sunday… at 3am?’

Millennials, meanwhile, frown as Gen X buries its head in the sand on issues they consider to be worth fighting for – employment rights and women’s rights in particular. ‘Just be as good as the men’ is not a strategy, Gen X. ‘Ladette’ is not a thing.

This friction, however, is exactly what gives the Xennials their edge. They can turn empathy on and off like a tap – fortress-like when the occasion demands it – but are also able to conduct a detailed tour of your emotional landscape. Might use the phrase ‘adulting’ but only when there are no ‘full Xs’ within earshot.

BOOMEREX (BORN 1961 TO 1968) 

Why not Xoomers? Because Gen Z-ers are also sometimes referred to as ‘Zoomers’ and the one thing this nomenclature does not need is further obfuscation. Pictured, Brad Pitt, born in 1963

Boomers are – possibly unfairly – often written up as being the unpopular kids on the generational block. Pictured, Daniel Craig, born in 1968

In the Boomers’ defence, however, they do know how to have a good time: they invented flower power, after all. Pictured, Jennifer Coolidge, born in 1961

Boomerex might call it a night at 11pm but they’ll already have drunk the bar dry. Examples include JK Rowling (left) and Johnny Depp (right)

Why not Xoomers? Because Gen Z-ers are also sometimes referred to as ‘Zoomers’ and the one thing this nomenclature does not need is further obfuscation.

Boomers are – possibly unfairly – often written up as being the unpopular kids on the generational block. As the (younger) age groups see it: they took all the cheap houses (which they bought with the proceeds from all the best jobs) then they bought loads of stuff and trashed the planet with it. Now they’re being smug and complacent about the whole thing.

In the Boomers’ defence, however, they do know how to have a good time: they invented flower power, after all.

A recent Age UK survey found drinking over 14 units of alcohol per week is most common among adults aged 55 to 64 – some of those falling in the Boomerex micro-generation where you will find the most committed hedonists who have skilfully blended hippy and head-banger: old enough to have some proper cash to spend and still young enough to throw a good shape on the dancefloor.

Boomerex might call it a night at 11pm but they’ll already have drunk the bar dry.

SHHH-OOMERS (BORN 1942 TO 1948) 

Most commentators point to the fact that female Shhh-oomers entered the workplace before the women’s movement existed but may have been just about young enough to see it coming. Pictured, Joe Biden, born in 1942

The further you pass up the age generations, the less willing people are to describe their experience of being in a micro-gen (or a ‘cusper’ as some like to refer to themselves. Pictured, Diana Ross, born in 1944

No shortage whatsoever of Zennials popping up to say, ‘Actually, I didn’t have an iPhone when I was growing up – only an iPod.’ There is almost nothing, however, from the youngest of the Silent Generation. Examples include Diane Keaton (left) and Rod Stewart (right)

Iconic singer Elton John, pictured, was born in 1947, placing him into the Shhh-oomer micro-generation

The further you pass up the age generations, the less willing people are to describe their experience of being in a micro-gen (or a ‘cusper’ as some like to refer to themselves). No shortage whatsoever of Zennials popping up to say, ‘Actually, I didn’t have an iPhone when I was growing up – only an iPod.’

Or Xennials counting the ways in which they were ‘traumatised by the shell suit the first time around’. Almost nothing, however, from the youngest of the Silent Generation. It is clearly not a misnomer.

Most commentators point to the fact that female Shhh-oomers entered the workplace before the women’s movement existed but may have been just about young enough to see it coming. Still silent, maybe, but with the hope that they’d be able to speak out one day.