Why can't we name this decade?

People have been attempting to name this decade since 1989. But with the starts-with-a-zero years drawing to a close, it's clear that none of the proposals — from silly ("the naughty aughties") to depressing ("the terror era") — have quite caught on. Here are 20 of the more memorable suggestions, in chronological order:

1. The Zippy Zeros: "That is only a working title." (The New York Times, 1989)

2. The Ohs: "It passes the out-loud test." (NYT, 1996)

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3. The Love Years: "We'll be able to say, 'Remember the Summer of Love-Five?'" (Washington Post, 1998)

4. The Two Thousands: "But that's going to sound mighty silly in the year 2525." (Washington Post, 1998)

5. The Noughties: "The 'noughties' could be the one to head the — admittedly sorry — list of contenders. And yet the 'noughties' still sounds like a word East End villains might use to describe imprisonable activities — or even worse a polite, middle-class code for the reproductive organs." (BBC, 1999)

6. The My Decade: "What is it that has come to characterize the expectations of consumers in the Aughts? The answer is personalization." (itWorldCanada.com, 2000)

7. The Millie-nillies: "[Cute but] so 90s. If a name [for the decade] emerges, 'The Ohs' have the inside track...because people already refer to the individual years as oh-one, oh-two, oh-three and oh-four." (ABC News, 2002)

8. The Anxious Aughts: "Anxiety is the new normalcy." (USA Today, 2003)

9. Naughty Aughties: "Naughty Aughties is simple, catchy, rhymes and intimates fun and mischievous behavior...Naughty Aughties fills the void in a fun and 'roll off your tongue' sort of way." (NaughtyAughty.com)

10. The Zeros: "If you wanted to go continue on with the standard numbers, The Zeroes would make the most sense mathematically, provided they can work out a licensing agreement with the Houston Texans." (Blog Critics, 2005)

11. The Dark Decade: "It reminds me of the Dark Ages in Europe, or Darth Vader. Now we’re on the edge of a renaissance, thank goodness." (News-record.com, 2008)

12. The Oh-nos: "Based on the way things have gone so far, I nominate 'the oh-nos.'" (Washington Post, 2008)

13. The Naughts: "The 2000s—[which] will be remembered chiefly for their [shortcomings]—were a decade...in which the social and political systems normally responsible for maintaining the healthy functioning of the body politic have instead turned against it with particular savagery...." (Harper's, 2008)

14. The Whatevers: "Some Americans have adopted a doomsday outlook to cope with a world where bad news never fails to stop piling on. The 'Whatever' generation rolls its eyes, shakes its head, and talks about how things can’t get any worse." (Mediaite, 2009)

15. The Decade of the Unthinkable: "If nothing else pleasant can be said about the last 10 years, they sure weren’t dull." (NYT, 2009)

16. The Buster Decade: "We had this big boom and now we're bust." (Chicago Tribune, 2009)

17. The Decade of Disruptions: "It’s been a decade as bumpy as the ’90s were blithe.” (NYT, 2009)

18. The Unies: "It's a mathematical answer. The prefix “uni” means one (single digits) and can also be looked upon as a means to unify, or bring together which is exactly what we are trying to accomplish." (Ryan Guerra at Google Knol, 2009)

19. The Ooze: "Ooze need not only signify decay. It can also represent the conditions for lasting growth and renewal — the kind that emerges from the ground up." (TheDemocraticStrategist.com, 2009)

20. The Decade from Hell: "We're still weeks away from the end of '09, but it's not too early to pass judgment. Call it the Decade from Hell...or the Decade of Broken Dreams, or the Lost Decade. Call it whatever you want — just give thanks that it is nearly over." (Time, 2009)