They've been called Generation Y (one down from the Gen Xers) and boomlets (children of the baby boomers) and Generation Next, but many industry and society analysts are beginning to use the term Millennials.

They are the people born between 1982 and 2000, and there are some 73 million of them.

"By 2010 the Millennials will out-number both the baby boomers and Generation X," Georganne Bender told participants at a session at the recent Craft & Hobby Show held in Anaheim, Calif. Bender and her partner, Rich Kizer, bill themselves as "retail anthropologists," who look at societal trends and how those trends impact the business world.

Millennials are "too mercurial to pin down," they said, but one thing is certain. "This generation is changing the way everyone is doing business because they insist on doing things their own way."

The generation's "elder statesmen" are out of college now and joining the work force, which is in part how they've come to get increasing attention. "They aren't children any more," said Bender in a follow-up interview from her office in St. Charles, Ill. They are starting their careers, and the unique things they bring with that are making a difference in the workplace.

"The Millennials believe that the rest of us should change to accommodate them, not the other way around," says Bender. "And they are not budging. You want them to work on a weekend when they have other plans? Good luck. Friends and family come first."

The Millennials came into the world in what some sociologists call "the age of the child" or "the age of the active parent."

They have been the most watched-over, catered-to generation yet, Bender says. "A lot of them have never been told no, or that they couldn't do something."

They have grown up with good self-esteem. They have developed independence because of such things as divorce, day care, single-parenting and latchkey-parenting.

For the most part, they have a good relationship with their parents. Generational researchers Neil Howe and William Strauss found that in 2005 more than 90 percent of teens said they "get along" with their parents, and nearly 80 percent said they get along "very well" or "extremely well." One survey found that 82 percent of teens said they had "no problem" with any family member, compared to 48 percent who said that back in 1974.

"They are bright. They are optimistic," Bender says.

And they think they can start at the top. "Whereas other generations knew they had to work to get the top positions, Millennials go in knowing they can be the CEO," she says. "They believe they can have your job in three weeks."

Once they get into the work force, she says, "something happens. Something clicks in and they behave more the way they should. But still you have to adapt to them, not expect them to adapt to you."