Generation Y is the name of a cultural "generation" comprised of those born in the 1980s and 1990s although the exact birth years of this age demographic are currently in debate among scholars as is the very existence of a "generation Y". Theoretically, this is the generation after Generation X. However, the name has yet to be widely accepted. The generation is also called the Millennial Generation, the Millennium Generation, the Echo Boomers, the Net Generation, N-Gen, Generation NeXt or "NeXters", Generation 2000, Generation Y2K, the Sunshine Generation, the Bittersweet Generation, the Hip-hop Generation, the Digital Generation, the Explorers, generation.com, e-Generation, little x-ers, Generation i (for Internet), the Little Boomers, the Boomlet, Generation Can-do, Generation "WHY?", the Y-inistas, and the Bridgers. The name "Newmils" is popular in the UK, as is the term Thatcher's Children. The term 'echo' is most popular in Canada, inspired by David K. Foot and Daniel Stoffman's book Boom, Bust and Echo. The Y in Generation Y comes from the X of the previous generation (Y immediately following X in the alphabet). It is usually given as beginning between 1977 or 1982.

In the Generations system of authors Strauss and Howe, the Millennial Generation, as they call it, is the generation of Americans born from 1982 to 2003 (assuming that this generation has a typical length). Their typical grandparents are from the Silent Generation; their typical parents are of the baby boomers and Generation X. The Millennial name of this generation represents the fact that its birth years span the year 2000; in that regard, Bimillennial may be a better name.

In the 1980s, as divorce and abortion rates ebbed, the popular culture in the United States began stigmatizing hands-off parenting styles and recast babies as special. Child abuse and child safety became hot topics, while books teaching virtues and values became best-sellers. Politicians began to define adult issues (from tax cuts to deficits) in terms of their effects on children. Hollywood replaced child devils with child angels, and cable television and the Internet developed 'child-friendly' havens. With adults viewing children more positively, American students are apparently faring better in international comparisons.

It has been claimed that the so-called 'Millennials' are emerging as something of a generational public property. Where child Generation Xers had once been the castoffs of Awakening-era euphoria, Millennials have become symbols of an Unraveling-era need to prevent the social hemorrhaging before it could damage another new generation. However there is a feeling that the new focus has not yet reversed the Awakening-era damage to the child's world. The child poverty rate is still high. The crack babies of the 1980s are growing up with severe emotional disabilities. Dysfunctional families are still a problem, and murderers of the age of the two Columbine assailants or younger still make the news. Certain issues such as television sex and violence prompted few complaints from adults in the Awakening, but infuriate them in the Unraveling.

The Millennial generation includes such celebrities as Leann Rimes and the Olsen twins. Their non-US-born peers include Princes William and Harry of the United Kingdom and Oscar winner Anna Paquin.

Generation Y Celebrities

A listing of US-born Millenial celebrities with birth dates from 1982 through 2003 (and death dates for those that have died) includes the following: