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
- 5 Your father's mother
- 11 Your father's mother's mother
- 22 Your father's mother's mother's father
- 45 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother
- 90 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father
- 180 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father
- 361 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother
- 722 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father
- 1444 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father
- 2889 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother
- 5779 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother's mother
- 11558 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father
- 23117 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's mother
- 46235 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's mother's mother
- 92471 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's mother's mother's mother
- 184943 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's mother
- 369886 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's mother's father
- 739772 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's mother's father's father
- 1479545 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's mother's father's father's mother
- 2959090 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father
- 5918180 Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's father
Your father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's mother's father's father's mother's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's mother's father's father's mother's father's father, a 20x great-grandfather, is number 5918180.