The 1890s were sometimes referred to as the "Mauve Decade" – because William Henry Perkin's aniline dye allowed the widespread use of that colour in fashion – and also as the "Gay Nineties", under the then-current usage of the word "gay" which referred simply to merriment and frivolity. The phrase, "The Gay Nineties," was not coined until 1926. This decade was also part of the Gilded Age, a phrase coined by Mark Twain, alluding^{[citation needed]} to the seemingly profitable era that was riddled with crime. In the United States, the 1890s were marked by a severe economic depression sparked by the Panic of 1893, as well as several strikes in the industrial workforce. As of May 8, 2012, there were 24 verified living people who were born in the 1890s.

1896 saw the first edition of the modern Olympic Games.