The trend towards embracing it was already starting when I was a kid in the late 00's and early 10's, but it really picked up with the class of ~2016. The rise of the computer programmer as the highest ROI degree in this generation made a huge difference in perception of the word "nerd".
By the time I was helping with a local youth group in 2017 (14 year olds) the very extroverted ringleader of the group was a proud "nerd", by which he meant that he and his friends loved to play video games like Fortnite and had an aversion to sports.
Take a look at the highest voted entries in Urban Dictionary [0]. Obviously this isn't a scientific measurement, but it shows a strong subculture of self-identified nerds who embrace the label to some degree.
Edit: here's another source [1] that you may find more credible, from 2012:
> And the appropriation of the word "nerd" was a "battle that got won", says [Neil] Gaiman. "It's like many terms that were originally intended to offend, the team that was offended took it as its own as a badge of honour.
> "It's part of a cycle, that terms of abuse are turned around - in this case it has been socially turned around."
By the time I was helping with a local youth group in 2017 (14 year olds) the very extroverted ringleader of the group was a proud "nerd", by which he meant that he and his friends loved to play video games like Fortnite and had an aversion to sports.
Take a look at the highest voted entries in Urban Dictionary [0]. Obviously this isn't a scientific measurement, but it shows a strong subculture of self-identified nerds who embrace the label to some degree.
Edit: here's another source [1] that you may find more credible, from 2012:
> And the appropriation of the word "nerd" was a "battle that got won", says [Neil] Gaiman. "It's like many terms that were originally intended to offend, the team that was offended took it as its own as a badge of honour.
> "It's part of a cycle, that terms of abuse are turned around - in this case it has been socially turned around."
[0] https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Nerd
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20325517