What is a Xennial and why is there so much confusion around who came up with it?

IF YOU were born during this period then you are apart of a microgeneration called Xennials. But the term has caused a fair bit of controversy.

IT’S the new term for a generation who feel like they don’t fit with either Gen Y or Gen X, but who came up with the term has caused some controversy.

Xennials is a term that has recently become a popular way to describe people born between 1977 and 1983.

People born between these periods have been stuck in a kind of generational limbo, sandwiched in between the cynical group of Gen X and the overly optimistic, smashed avo eating Millennials, without really identifying with either.

Unlike Millennials who grew up with mobile phones, Xennials remember calling their friends on landlines and have the sound of dial up internet burned into their memories. But were also able to adapt to new technology more easily than Gen Xers.

But who came up with the Xennials term all depends on who you talk to.

The label gained attention a few months ago, after Mamamia published an article on the new name for the microgeneration between 77 and 83.

Dan Woodman, an Associate Professor in Sociology at the University of Melbourne, provided insight into the characteristics of an Xennial and since then has been largely credited with coining the term.

If you spent your adolescent years using a computer like this but quickly adapted to using new laptops then you are probably an Xennnial. Picture: iStock

“The idea is there’s this micro or in-between generation between the Gen X group — who we think of as the depressed flannelette-shirt-wearing, grunge-listening children that came after the Baby Boomers and the Millennials — who get described as optimistic, tech savvy and maybe a little bit too sure of themselves and too confident,” he told Mamamia.

But it seems that the idea of a microgeneration between Gen X and Millenials has been around for a while, with the term ‘Xennial’ appearing in an article by Sarah Stankorb and Jed Oelbaum featured in Good magazine.

Not long after the term started to become popular, Stankorb published an opinion piece in Vogue under the title ‘I made up Xennial 3 years ago, so why is a professor in Australia getting all the credit?’.

In the article Stankorb speaks out about her frustration at not being credited for the term that she came up with, saying that she feels “like the woman in a meeting who shares an idea and watches credit evaporate”.

Stankorb says she spoke to Woodman and even though he does not claim to have coined the term and has even made a Twitter post crediting Stankorb, very few media outlets seemed to care.

To reiterate, Xennials not my term. Around a while online, earliest ref I've found: by @sarahstankorb & @jedoelbaum https://t.co/SsK8zpH35l

— Dan Woodman (@DrDanWoodman) 27 June 2017

Thanks for the cite! That was a fun piece. @sarahstankorb deserves credit for the term. https://t.co/d3rDLMfhfc

— Jed O (@jedoelbaum) 27 June 2017

Jorrie Varney who runs a parenting blog called Close to Classy, wrote an article on Xennials in which she also gave credit to Woodman for coining the term. But when Stankorb’s article came out she updated her piece to include the new information along with a link.

Ms Varney told news.com.au that she first came across the term the day she wrote the article for online blog Sammiches and Psych Meds.

“I actually stumbled across an article online talking about Xennials, and it really resonated with me. I decided to research it a little more, and I came across Mamamia’s interview with Professor Woodman,” she said.

Ms Varney explained that she did not speak to Professor Woodman directly and instead used quotes from his interview with Mamamia that she linked back to, but when she read Stankorb’s Vogue article she amended her own.

“I couldn’t find any other mention of the word prior to her using it, and I feel it’s important to give credit where credit is due, so I spoke with my editor and asked her to credit Sarah — which she was more than happy to do.”

If you were born during the release of the original Star Wars trilogy then you can call yourself an Xennial.

As much as Ms Varney feels the term Xennials has the ability to really resonate with a specific group, she doesn’t see the need for a specific term.

“I do feel that we are a unique group, but there are enough labels in the world,” she told news.com.au.

“I’m happy that something like this could bring people together to reminisce and relate, but it’s just another label.”