Generation X

The story

Compound of generation + X (used to represent an unknown quantity or unknown value). Sense 2 (“the post-baby boom generation”) was popularized by the novel Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture (1991) by the Canadian author and artist Douglas Coupland (born 1961).

First known use, by meaning

• from 1950s A generation of people whose future is uncertain; a lost generation.