Which name is generally attributed to the U.S. demographic cohort born between 1901 and 1927?

Known as the Greatest Generation, or the G.I. Generation (Government Issue) and the World War II Generation, is a demographic cohort in the U.S.population generally defined as including people born between 1901 and 1927.

Three world events characterized their lives and historical times- the deadly Spanish flu pandemic from 1918 to 1920; the Great Depression that took place starting in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s; and World War II that started in 1939 and ended in 1945.

The origin of the term is attributed to the 1998 book ‘The Greatest Generation’ by the American journalist and news reporter Tom Brokaw (born 1940). Included in his description of this cohort were the American members who lived through the Great Depression and then went on to fight in WWII plus those Americans who contributed to the war effort on the home front.

Authors William Strauss (1947-2007) and Neil Howe (born 1951) called this generation, the ‘G.I. Generation’ in their 1991 book ‘Generations: The History of America’s Future.’

The Great Generation followed The Lost Generation, a term particularly used to refer to a group of American expatriate writers living in Paris during the 1920s.

Following the Greatest Generation is the Silent Generation, a demographic cohort generally defined as people born from 1928 to 1945. By this definition and U.S. Census data, there were 23 million people that are included in this cohort in the U.S. as of 2019.