They inherited the names and nicknames of Kennedys before them: Rose, Joe, Teddy and Kick.

Some have felt the lure of politics and social activism, running for Congress or advocating for the environment, while others have gravitated to the stage or Hollywood.

A sprawling group with many in their 20s and 30s, the younger generation of Kennedys took a tragic turn in the national spotlight this week. One of its members, 22-year-old Saoirse Kennedy Hill, suffered an apparent drug overdose on Thursday at the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port, Mass., and died.

Ms. Kennedy Hill, a student at Boston College, was a granddaughter of Robert F. Kennedy and the daughter of Courtney Kennedy Hill.

In some ways, Ms. Kennedy Hill typified her Kennedy generation, bearing a famous name, elite education and access to the storied compound on Cape Cod where her grandmother, Ethel Kennedy, still lives. But like so many of her cousins, she was little known to the wider public, a relatively anonymous young woman who had scarcely begun to choose her life’s path.