yet Another aging Boomer question

January 1, 2008 11:40 AM

I was born in 1954, and this year I will be 54 years old. Is there a name for the year when this 'anniversary' occurs?

50 year anniversaries are 'golden'. 100 years are 'centennial'. Somewhere I once read a name for the year when you are the same age as the year of your birth. There was also a chart showing the probability of living until that age (for US citizens).

For my son born 1993, he will have to live to be 93, until 2087, to see this anniversary. A child born in 2001 reaches this anniversary the very next year.

Help me find this anniversary name and the related data.

posted by pgoes to society & culture (11 comments total)

Your son will have it in 2086, not 2087.

Whatever this thing is called, nobody celebrates theirs on any odd-numbered years.
posted by vacapinta at 11:45 AM on January 1

Futility Coset offered a related math formula recently - A Confederacy of Squares
posted by growabrain at 11:48 AM on January 1

How about Beddian Year?
posted by moonmilk at 11:52 AM on January 1 [5 favorites]

The word for this was recently mentioned on Kottke. I don't have time to search but it was definitely there.
posted by dobbs at 11:59 AM on January 1

Thanks to moonmilk for the speedy reply. That was my source for sure.

Vacapinta, you are right; I stand corrected.

Dobbs, what is Kottke? kottke.org blog?
posted by pgoes at 12:07 PM on January 1

The day-age equivalent is one's golden birthday. (I was born on the 23rd, so my golden birthday was when I turned 23). I think I've heard of silver birthdays as well, maybe for the month? So, I'd go with "bronze birthday" if I were coining a term.
posted by lorimt at 12:07 PM on January 1 [1 favorite]

My great-grandmother and the rest of my family on my mom's side called the day you turned your date-age (24 on the 24th, for example) your "Golden Birthday" -- and everyone got a present, made of gold, on that birthday. Usually these were passed down in the family: I got a diamond ring that was my great-grandmother's, my brother got a watch fob (!), and my sister got a topaz ring surrounded by seed pearls. Nothing too expensive, just warmly regarded.
posted by mdiskin at 12:11 PM on January 1 [2 favorites]

I've heard the age/day of the month coincide called the "Champagne Birthday".
posted by orange swan at 1:04 PM on January 1

We always called it "golden birthday" in these parts. Though mine was when I was 9 so my sample set is "all my kiddie friends in Evanston, IL."
posted by iguanapolitico at 2:55 PM on January 1

I turned 21 on the 21st and got no booze at all, DMan. I feel shorted (not really).

A child born in 2001 would need 100 years to reach that birthday--the next year, a child born in 2001 would turn 1 in '02. A child born in 2000 would be 0 in his birth year of '00 for the rest of that year, so for some of those kids it may be twice-in-a-lifetime event assuming that turning 100 in 2100 counts.
posted by Cricket at 6:50 PM on January 1

No, wait, I got that all buggered up, didn't I? Anyway, for the 0 case, is it age 0 or 100 that counts?
posted by Cricket at 6:51 PM on January 1