Arranging your family tree by generation can be quite a daunting task when you don’t know how, so how do you count generations in a family tree?
The length of a family generation is generally measured by the age difference between parent and child. Generally, this is thought to be between 25 -30 years, so let’s look at how generations are counted.
Getting Started Counting Generations
To start, you and your siblings and cousins make one generation, and your parents and their siblings from the next. Your grandparents and their siblings form the third generation, and so on.
The top-level of any family tree is the first generation, next down is their children, making up the second generation. This continues, with every successive generation becoming a number higher than the last.
Related: How Do Family Trees Work
What’s is a Generation?
With different definitions, genealogy books would describe them as family ties and kinship. In sociology, generation is a term used to try and understand the differences between groups of people.
Generally speaking, these people are people born at a similar time. This means they will go through similar life stages that affect them in different ways, perhaps because they went through a recession in their 30’s or were too young to go to war but shared a similar experience with others of their generation.
How Long Does A Generation Last?
Generations tend to last 25-30 years. The word generation is used rather loosely these days. Whether it is in pop culture or politics, it is generally referring to the age difference between people born and living at a similar time.
These generations overlap at a certain point, but people born in the same decade will share experiences and memories different from those born in different decades.
What Is A Great Grandparent?
The word “great” is used to describe each generation before your grandparents. So, your grandparents’ mother and father will be your great-grandmother and great-grandfather.
Their parents become your great-great-grandmother and great great grandfather, and so it continues with every generation as you go back.
Your grandparents’ siblings are called “great aunts” and “great uncles.” This makes things a little complicated as it makes it difficult to distinguish between them and your great grandparents which are a different generation.
Nonetheless, if you know them well enough, it can be easier to put a face and a name to a person when organizing your family tree.
Loose Connections
Uncle and aunt are often used to describe a friend of the family. Perhaps they are one of your mother or father’s good friends and you have known them for all your life. These terms are usually used with affection and are not to be mistaken with the proper use mentioned above.
Half brothers/ sisters/cousins or anyone related through marriage alone and not blood can often be described as brothers on official documents like wills. When drawing up your family tree or proper documents, it is important to take care and consider which relationships are genuine.
FAQs
Your parents and their siblings form the next generation. Your grandparents and their siblings make up a third. The top level of the family tree is the first generation, followed by their children (second generation) and so on, assigning each successive generation a higher number - third, fourth, fifth.
How is generation calculated? ›
Generations are one way to group age cohorts. A generation typically refers to groups of people born over a 15-20 year span, such as the Millennial generation, currently the youngest adult generation.
What are 4 generations in a family? ›
Basically, each person has 15 possible persons in their 4-generation tree (self, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents). The statistic is what percentage of those 15 persons are actually in the tree for the adult members of the ward/stake.
How far back is 8 generations? ›
By eight generations, you would likely find your ethnicity your 6th great-grandparents about 200 Years ago. That would be around the early 1800s where many records cease to exist for your ancestors. Either they were never created or have been destroyed.
How many years is 3 generations? ›
We generally figure three or four generations to every 100 years — in rare instances only two, in others five. The average span from one generation to the next is about 25 to 30 years.
How many years is 7 generations? ›
Native American tribes hold dear the concept of seven generations planning, that the impact of decisions should be considered out seven generations into the future, about 150 years.
How do you count generations of cousins? ›
First cousins share a grandparent (2 generations) Second cousins share a great-grandparent (3 generations) Third cousins share a great-great-grandparent (4 generations)
How many generations until everyone is related? ›
Joseph T. Chang has proposed that in a large, well mixed population of size N, we only have to go 1.77log2 (N) generations in the past to find the time when everyone in the population (who left descendants) is an ancestor to the entire population.
How many generations before you are forgotten? ›
It is a common understanding that after two to three generations after our death, the majority of people are unlikely to remember that we ever existed. As time passes, memories fade, and people move on with their lives.
How far back is 1% DNA? ›
You can't inherit more than half of an ancestor's DNA
The chart below shows probable (but not necessarily actual) percentages of genes you may have inherited from ancestors going back four generations. At seven generations back, less than 1% of your DNA is likely to have come from any given ancestor.
To form a fetus, an egg from the mother and sperm from the father come together. The egg and sperm each have one half of a set of chromosomes. The egg and sperm together give the baby the full set of chromosomes. So, half the baby's DNA comes from the mother and half comes from the father.
How many grandparents are in 5 generations? ›
Parents 2 Grandparents 4 Great-Grandparents 8 2nd Great-Grandparents 16 3rd Great-Grandparents 32 4th Great-Grandparents 64 5th Great-Grandparents 128 6th Great-Grandparents 256 7th Great-Grandparents 512 8th Great-Grandparents 1,024 9th Great-Grandparents 2,048 10th Great-Grandparents 4,096 11th Great-Grandparents ...
How many grandparents are in 8 generations? ›
Number of Grandparents
| Generation # | Relationship | No. in generation |
|---|
| 7 | 5 X Great grandparents | 128 |
| 8 | 6X Great grandparents | 256 |
| 9 | 7X Great grandparents | 512 |
| 10 | 8 X Great grandparents | 1,024 |
13 more rowsGenerations defined by name, birth year, and ages in 2024
| Generations | Born | Current Ages |
|---|
| Gen Z | 1997 – 2012 | 12 – 27 |
| Millennials | 1981 – 1996 | 28 – 43 |
| Gen X | 1965 – 1980 | 44 – 59 |
| Boomers II (a/k/a Generation Jones)* | 1955 – 1964 | 60 – 69 |
3 more rowsFeb 29, 2024
Family trees are built in reverse-chronological order, meaning you start with yourself and then trace your family backward. To start, you'll need to put in your own name, birth date, and birthplace. You can then add any siblings, who will sit on the same branch as you.
How long is one generation in the Bible? ›
The numbers may be linked to Daniel 9:24–27, which states that seventy weeks of years, or 490 years, would pass between the restoration of Jerusalem and the coming of the messiah. Since generations were commonly placed at 35 years, this means exactly 14 generations. W. D.
How many years is 20 generations? ›
In other words, our ancestors increase exponentially the further back we look. About 20 generations (about 400 years), ago we each have about a million ancestors - and after that the numbers start to get even sillier. Forty generations ago (800 years) gives us one trillion ancestors, and fifty gives one quadrillion.
How many years is 6 generations? ›
How do we refer to our ancestors in a way that is clear?
| Years ago |
|---|
| Gen# | from | to |
|---|
| 4 | 80 | 160 |
| 5 | 100 | 200 |
| 6 | 120 | 240 |
17 more rowsJan 29, 2021
For the purpose of this discussion, let's get started with some definitions. The term 3-Generation Family refers to multigenerational family households where two or more adult generations live together under the same roof; this generally includes a grandparent, parent, and child.
