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
- 3 Your mother
- 6 Your mother's father
- 13 Your mother's father's mother
- 26 Your mother's father's mother's father
- 53 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother
- 107 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother
- 215 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother
- 430 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father
- 860 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father
- 1720 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father's father
- 3440 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father's father's father
- 6880 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father's father's father's father
- 13761 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother
- 27522 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's father
- 55045 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's father's mother
- 110090 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's father's mother's father
- 220181 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's father's mother's father's mother
- 440362 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's father's mother's father's mother's father
- 880724 Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's father's mother's father's mother's father's father
Your mother's father's mother's father's mother's mother's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's father's mother's father's mother's father's father, a 17x great-grandfather, is number 880724.