I'VE BEEN INTRIGUED by the names given different generations (Baby Boomers, etc.) so I began looking around to find out what, if anything, characterized a generation name. Answer: nothing really.

What stood out is that a 'generation' is characterized mostly by an interval between about 11 and 17 years, averaging about 15. So I decided to create my own generation chart. Here it is:

The first four are the usual suspects, with the consensus birth periods in parentheses. I started over and used a consistent 15 year birth interval to give the birth periods in brackets at the right. The consensus generation chart shows both my wife and I as of the Silent Generation; my chart puts us in the Baby Boomer generation, which strikes me as more realistic as we were both born at the very end of WWII.

The last two categories represent my (somewhat jaundiced) assessment of the future BT (before Trump). His successes to date may encourage me to change that assessment.