In common usage, contemporaries are Objects whose lifetimes overlap.

The question of whether or not lifetimes overlap is more delicate than might be supposed. If two objects are widely separated in space what does it mean to say their lifetimes overlap. That statement presupposes that we can draw a spacetime diagram with a time axis that applies both over here and over there. This is a theoretical impossibility unless we and the two objects are at rest relative to one another, as indicated by the relativity of simultaneity article in Wikipedia.

As an approximation, if we assume that that the speeds involved among the observer and the two objects are much less than the speed of light, we might be able to disregard any slight aberation caused by the relativity of simultaneity. Even in that event, declaring our two objects contemporaries needs some more thought.

Clearly if one object dies before the other is born they cannot interact. But suppose that the two objects were one light-year apart in space. If their lifetimes do not overlap, in the reference frame in which they are both approximately at rest, by at least by at least two years, there is also no way in which the objects can interact. The is simply not enough time for a signal to get from one to the other and back. I think that if no interaction is physically possible we might reasonably conclude that the objects are not contemporaries.