Generation Alpha: Birth Years (2013–present) & Characteristics
Generation Alpha covers people born from 2013 onward on this site, and its name exists because an Australian researcher didn’t like where the alphabet was pointing him next.
Where the birth years come from
This site uses 2013 as the start of Generation Alpha, an informal label for the cohort immediately following Generation Z, with no end year yet since this generation is still being born. Not everyone draws the line in the same place. Some researchers start Generation Alpha in 2010, closer to when the term was first used, which shows how much boundary-setting for a generation that hasn’t finished arriving yet comes down to a judgment call rather than a fixed fact.
Where the name came from
Australian social researcher Mark McCrindle came up with “Generation Alpha” around 2008, after running a survey through his firm, McCrindle Research, asking people what they thought the generation after Z should be called. “Generation A” was the most popular suggestion, but McCrindle felt that looping back to the start of the Latin alphabet was the wrong instinct for a generation that represented something genuinely new, since they’d be the first born entirely in the 21st century. Instead, he reached for the Greek alphabet, partly inspired by how meteorologists had switched to Greek letters, starting with Alpha, after running out of Latin-alphabet hurricane names during the unusually active 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. McCrindle introduced the name in his 2009 book, The ABC of XYZ: Understanding the Global Generations, in a chapter called “Beyond Z: Meet Generation Alpha,” and it has been the standard label ever since.
What this cohort came of age around
Generation Alpha is largely the children of Millennials, being raised in a world where tablets, streaming video, and voice assistants were already ordinary household fixtures before they were born, rather than new technology. The oldest members of this cohort, born in 2013, were in the early years of elementary school when COVID-19 pandemic closures disrupted in-person schooling worldwide starting in 2020, making remote and hybrid learning a formative early-childhood experience for a meaningful share of this generation.
Generation labels vs. calendar facts
“Generation Alpha” is a social label built around a naming convention and shared circumstances, not a fixed calendar cycle like the Chinese zodiac, which assigns a new animal every lunar year regardless of technology or world events. It’s also a different kind of fact than a child’s exact weekday of birth or age in days, both of which are fixed the moment a birth date is known. The methodology page explains how this site separates the two.
Check your cohort
Compare Generation Z, the generation right before, or browse every label on the generations hub. Enter a birth date into the birthday calculator to see the weekday of birth, moon phase, and more.
Common questions
Which birth years count as Generation Alpha here, and why do other sources differ?
This site treats Generation Alpha as 2013 to present, following the informal label after Generation Z. Some researchers instead start the cohort at 2010, closer to when the label's coiner first began using it. Since the generation is still being born, its eventual end year isn't settled either.
Was Generation Alpha named the same way everywhere in the world?
The name itself came from an Australian researcher, and it has spread internationally through media and marketing rather than through any single global body adopting it. Some countries and firms still use their own start years.
Does being Generation Alpha say anything about a specific child's personality?
No. It's a broad label describing shared circumstances, like the technology and events surrounding early childhood, not a prediction about any individual child's traits.
Is a generation label the same as a Chinese zodiac year or Western star sign?
No. Zodiac systems assign identity from a repeating annual or seasonal cycle. Generation Alpha is an open-ended social cohort defined by birth years and shared circumstances, not a cycle that repeats.