# What is first decade of 21st century called? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [June 7, 2012, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364 "2012-06-07T09:27:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Keith\_Lyons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Keith\_Lyons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Lyons)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/1 "2012-06-07T09:27:51Z")
Dear All: It is commonly referred to as “the 9/11 decade” – in US journalism, pencil & electronic press, political science, & history books; but generally not so outside of the United States. Sincerely: – Keith Lyons ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/2 "2012-06-07T09:30:35Z")
Noughties. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/3 "2012-06-07T10:06:24Z")
Is this the article you’re referring to? [What will the first decade of the 21st century called?](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/511/what-will-the-first-decade-of-the-21st-century-be-called) It’s considered helpful to other members if you link to the article you’re commenting on. Also, notice the date in the article is January 1, 1975, so September 11, 2001, was still 26 years into the future when it was written. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/4 "2012-06-07T10:43:52Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > Noughties. I’ve always liked the “Naughty Noughties” myself, but play around with the spelling if you wish. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/5 "2012-06-07T10:45:18Z")
> [@Sr\_Siete](#): > > Noughties. That keeps getting suggested, yet no one uses it. ---
**Author:** ![Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Nunzio\_Tavulari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunzio_Tavulari)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/6 "2012-06-07T11:33:22Z")
> [@Keith\_Lyons](#): > > It is commonly referred to as “the 9/11 decade” I’ve never heard the term before. It seems unwieldy and jingoistic. can you provide an example of this usage? ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/7 "2012-06-07T11:38:24Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > That keeps getting suggested, yet no one uses it. At least in the British media it’s quite common. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/8 "2012-06-07T11:40:19Z")
I’ve always heard Noughties (Brit again) ---
**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/9 "2012-06-07T12:38:03Z")
> [@Keith\_Lyons](#): > > Dear All: > It is commonly referred to as “the 9/11 decade” – in US journalism, pencil & electronic press, political science, & history books; but generally not so outside of the United States. > Sincerely: – Keith Lyons Dear Keith: No it’s not. Isn’t it fun to exchange unsupported claims? Sincerely: – Powers ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/10 "2012-06-07T14:18:39Z")
> [@Keith\_Lyons](#): > > Dear All: > It is commonly referred to as “the 9/11 decade” – in US journalism, pencil & electronic press, political science, & history books; but generally not so outside of the United States. > Sincerely: – Keith Lyons Commonly used _where?_ It’s not that it can’t be found on the internet, but it is usually in stories that have something to do with the 9/11 incident and/or the following war. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/11 "2012-06-08T16:13:34Z")
I don’t know why we feel so concerned about declaring a name for the decade. If there is to be a generally accepted name for the decade it will happen organically with out a committee being appointed. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/12 "2012-06-08T17:22:37Z")
We’re trying to find out if one has appeared organically. “The noughties” appears to be fairly common, mostly for the play on words. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/13 "2012-06-08T17:32:48Z")
I’ll bet you that the first decade of the 21st century won’t get named until we start naming the one we are currently in ‘the teens’. Then, we may well choose ‘the beginning of the century’ or something equally cumbersome until some crafty young person coins a new term which will catch on like wildfire and forever sunder our populace into those who ‘get it’ and those who don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/14 "2012-06-08T17:34:47Z")
What did we call the previous century’s 00s decade? The nineteen hundreds is probably the most common. (Then the nineteen tens, the twenties, the thirties…) I’ve never heard anyone genuinely call the 2000s the naughties. I think we’ll probably settle on the two thousands as time goes on. ---
**Author:** ![squidfood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a87d85/32.png) [@squidfood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squidfood)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/15 "2012-06-08T19:03:51Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > I’ll bet you that the first decade of the 21st century won’t get named until we start naming the one we are currently in ‘the teens’. Which is quite odd, really - at least the Seventies, Eighties, and Nineties were referred to as such while I was living in them. I’ve most often heard the “two thousands”, probably leftover hype from the millennium. FWIW, it’s listed that way [here](http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Two-Thousands). It will be interesting to see if that sticks once the technical “two thousands” includes more than a decade. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/16 "2012-06-08T19:37:32Z")
I use “ought-five”, _etc.,_ for individual years, as many people did a hundred years ago, but I’ve never used either “oughties” or “noughties”. “Nineteen-hundreds” was used for 190_x_, but you’ll note that “eighteen hundreds” isn’t used in the same way, due to the ambiguity, and I imagine “nineteen-hundreds” will soon succumb to the same problem. People are resisting “twenty-hundred” in all forms, anyway. I suspect that society will eventually fall back on some nonnumeric term, just as the 180_x_ decade is most likely to be called “the Regency” or “the Napoleonic era”, though either is imprecise. “The 9/11 decade” might indeed win out in time, or some reference to Bush or… Harry Potter, for aught I know. Who can say? ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/17 "2012-06-08T19:47:03Z")
I think that we will find that like the first two decades of the 1900s there is not a widely used nickname for the years 2000 to 2009 and 2010 to 2019. once we hit 2020 it will be the twenties etc. just like last century. Sometimes a pithy nick name doesn’t come around and people somehow muddle through. ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/18 "2012-06-08T19:58:00Z")
I would say the early 2000s, or more specifically, the year. I say “early 1900s” when referring to 1900-1910 or so, so there’s that continuity for me. “Noughties” just sounds silly as far as I’m concerned. Who uses “nought” for zero (except maybe Jethro Bodine)? ---
**Author:** ![gamerunknown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6bbea6/32.png) [@gamerunknown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gamerunknown)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2012, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/19 "2012-06-16T18:41:01Z")
“Noughties” offends me aesthetically. I may just have any recollections of the decade erased and pretend it never existed. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2012, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364/20 "2012-06-25T10:53:30Z")
I’ve been known to call the decade past the “uh-oh-s” (00’s). I was trying to get it to catch on but evidently I failed to bribe the non existant committe enough. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-first-decade-of-21st-century-called/624364.md?page=2)