You’re in the
Silent Generation
1928 to 1945born 1938
Position: core Silent Generation Cusp:
Too young for the war, first in line for rock and roll.
Born in 1938: Silent Generation
In the Silent Generation (1928 to 1945), core Silent Generation, turning 88 in 2026. No asterisks: 1938 sits well inside Silent, 1928 to 1945.
Your year, or any other
Born 1938: you’re in the Silent Generation (1928 to 1945), core Silent Generation. No asterisks: 1938 sits well inside Silent, 1928 to 1945.
Read about the Silent Generation
Where 1938 sits
1938 is core Silent Generation: the core third of Silent runs 1934 to 1939. Pew Research Center range. Nearly every source agrees on 1928 to 1945, ending with the close of World War II.
The Silent Generation is the cohort born from 1928 to 1945: too young to have fought in the Second World War, old enough to remember it, and raised during the Great Depression and the wartime home front. It is a small generation, because birth rates fell through the 1930s, and it came of age in the unusually prosperous 1950s. The label is one of the least accurate in the whole series: the people who supposedly kept quiet include most of the leaders of the civil rights movement, most of the founders of rock and roll, and the first wave of second-wave feminism. Read the full The Silent Generation page.
How old you were when…
Shared reference points, dated, so the generation label has something concrete behind it.
- age 3 Pearl Harbor (1941)
- age 19 Sputnik launches (1957)
- age 36 Nixon resigns (1974)
- age 51 the Berlin Wall falls (1989)
- age 63 the 2001-09-11 attacks (2001)
- age 70 the financial crisis, and Barack Obama is elected (2008)
- age 78 the Brexit vote and Donald Trump’s election (2016)
- age 86 the hottest year on record (2024)
Milestone birthdays
Someone born in 1938 turned 18 in 1956, 21 in 1959, 30 in 1968, 40 in 1978, 50 in 1988, 65 in 2003 and 80 in 2018. Next up: 100 in 2038.
Near 1938
Born in 1938: quick answers
What generation is someone born in 1938?
The Silent Generation (1928 to 1945) by the Pew Research Center definition. 1938 is core Silent Generation.
Is 1938 a cusp year?
No. 1938 sits well inside Silent (1928 to 1945); no source puts it in a different generation.
How old is someone born in 1938?
87 or 88 in 2026, depending on whether the birthday has passed. Type the full date into the calculator for the exact age in years, months and days.