Ancestor Numbers
An Ancestor Number (the proper name is an Ahnentafel number) says exactly where a direct ancestor sits in your family tree. You are always number 1. Anyone's father has double their number, and their mother double plus one: so your father is 2 and your mother 3, your father's parents are 4 and 5, your mother's parents 6 and 7, and so on. That's why every man in your tree (apart from you) has an even number and every woman an odd one.
Entering the Ancestor Numbers of your direct ancestors on My Ancestors keeps your records accurate, helps your cousins work out how they're related to you, and tells apart two lines that happen to share a surname.
Print our Ancestor Chart Every box on the chart shows its number, five generations back from you.
Peter Calver, who founded LostCousins, explained Ancestor Numbers in his newsletter of 25 December 2023 (Why are your female ancestors odd?).
Find a number by stepping back from you
Choose father or mother, one generation at a time, until you reach the person you want.
- 1 You
- 2 Your father
- 4 Your father's father
- 9 Your father's father's mother
- 19 Your father's father's mother's mother
- 38 Your father's father's mother's mother's father
- 76 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father
- 153 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother
- 306 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father
- 613 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother
- 1227 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother
- 2454 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father
- 4908 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father's father
- 9817 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother
- 19635 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother
- 39270 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father
- 78540 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's father
- 157081 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother
- 314163 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother
- 628326 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father
- 1256652 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's father
- 2513304 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's father's father
- 5026608 Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's father's father's father
Your father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's father's father's father, a 20x great-grandfather, is number 5026608.