A cusper is a person born near the end of one generation and the beginning of another. While the precise birth years defining when generations start and end vary, people born in these circumstances tend to have a mix of characteristics common to their adjacent generations and do not closely resemble those born in the middle of their adjacent generations. Generational profiles are built based on people born in the middle of a generation rather than those on the tails of a generation. Generations may overlap by five to eight years. As such, many people identify with aspects of at least two generations.

These cuspers experienced the lows after World War I but also the highs of the early Roaring Twenties, the Flappers, the Charleston and early silent films. As these cuspers came of age, some of them become more visionary like the Greatest Generation or stoic like the Silents.

Claire Raines Associates names these cuspers the Sandwich Group, Susan Mitchell calls these cuspers the Swing Generation, Smit calls them Troomers and Trompenaars and Woolliams call them Shhh-oomers. According to the Mayo Clinic, these cuspers have the work ethic of the Silent Generations, but like Baby Boomers will often challenge the status quo. Codrington describes them as having the status-seeking, career advancement motivations as Baby Boomers. Codrington adds that they are old enough to remember World War II, but were born too late to enjoy the 1960s. Hart notes that research has found the younger members of the Silent Generation tended to share more traits with Baby Boomers. Writer Marian Botsford Fraser described women in this cusper population as girls who "...did not smoke dope at high school, go to rock concerts, toy with acid and the pill and hippie boyfriends at university or tour Europe with a backpack." Instead, she notes "These girls wore crinolines and girdles, went to The Prom, went to nursing school and teachers' college, rarely university." Speaking of Susan Mitchell's population specifically they are believed to be an anomaly in that they tend be more activist and free thinkers than those born prior to them in the Silent Generation. Lancaster and Stillman echo this last point and note that these cuspers were on the frontlines of America's internal struggles as adults, agitating in favor of human rights. They go on to say many women among these cuspers entered in to male-dominated workplaces before the women's movement existed, blazing a trail for other generations of women to follow.

This population is sometimes referred to as Generation Jones, and less commonly as Tweeners, Baby X's by Smit and Boomerex by Trompenaars and Woolliams. These cuspers were not as financially successful as older Baby Boomers. They experienced a recession like many Generation Xers but had a much more difficult time finding jobs than Generation X did. While they learned to be IT-savvy, they did not have computers until after high school but were some of the first to purchase them for their homes. They were among some of the first to take an interest in video games. They get along well with Baby Boomers, but share different values. While they are comfortable in office environments, they are more relaxed at home. They are less interested in advancing their careers than Baby Boomers and more interested in quality of life.

The Generation X/Millennial cuspers are most commonly referred to as Xennials, although other names include the Oregon Trail Generation, Generation Catalano and The Lucky Ones. Researchers point out that these cuspers have both the healthy skepticism of Generation X and the optimism of Millennials. They are likely to challenge authority, but also are more career-focused than Generation X. While not all of these cuspers are digital natives, they are very comfortable with technology.

Names given for these cuspers include the Snapchat Generation by Ubl, Walden, and Arbit, MinionZ by Smit, GenZennials by Ketchum, Zillennials, and Zennials. They are characterized as being "raised less by optimistic Boomers and more by skeptical Xers and pragmatic Gen Jonesers, who raised them to focus more on the practical rather than the aspirational."

as identified by Chhatwal (Kadence International)

The Generation Z/Alpha cuspers are most commonly referred to as Zalphas. They are characterized as being "digital natives familiar with digital gadgets and technology from the cradle."