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
- 7 Your mother's mother
- 14 Your mother's mother's father
- 29 Your mother's mother's father's mother
- 59 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother
- 118 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father
- 237 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother
- 474 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father
- 948 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father
- 1896 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father
- 3792 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father's father
- 7584 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father's father's father
- 15169 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother
- 30339 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's mother
- 60679 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's mother's mother
- 121359 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's mother's mother's mother
- 242719 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother
- 485439 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother
- 970879 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother
- 1941758 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's father
- 3883517 Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's father's mother
Your mother's mother's father's mother's mother's father's mother's father's father's father's father's father's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's mother's father's mother, a 19x great-grandmother, is number 3883517.