How Many Generations Should a Family Tree Chart Show?

Most people who have spent years on their family history want the print on the wall to show everything. That instinct is understandable, and it is the most common reason a printed family tree ends up unreadable. Every generation you add doubles the number of names, and the paper does not get any bigger.

This guide gives you a simple way to count your generations, explains why six of them is the standard for a circular family tree chart, and shows what a chart looks like when some of the branches are still empty.

First, Count the Way a Chart Counts

Genealogists and chart makers count generations slightly differently, and the difference causes a lot of confusion. On a printed chart, the person or couple in the centre is generation one. Their parents are generation two, and so on outwards. So a "six-generation chart" reaches back five generations from the centre, to the great-great-great-grandparents.

One thing to be clear about before you count: a chart like this shows direct ancestors only. Parents, grandparents and the generations behind them are drawn; aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings are not, however well you know them. A circular pedigree follows the lines that lead to the person in the centre and nothing else, which is what keeps it readable.

The Doubling Problem in Numbers

Here is why the number matters so much. Each generation back doubles the number of ancestors, so the outer ring of the chart carries half of all the names on it.

Generation	Who they are	Ancestors in that ring	Names on the chart so far
1	You (or the couple in the centre)	1	1
2	Parents	2	3
3	Grandparents	4	7
4	Great-grandparents	8	15
5	Great-great-grandparents	16	31
6	Great-great-great-grandparents	32	63
7	Great-great-great-great-grandparents	64	127
8	Five-times-great-grandparents	128	255

Six generations puts 63 names on a chart centred on one person. Going one ring further doubles the outer names to 64 and, on the same sheet of paper, halves the space each of them gets. By eight generations the outer ring alone holds 128 names, and on a print you could hang in a living room the text would be smaller than the lettering on a coin.

Why Six Generations Is the Sweet Spot for a Wall Print

Every Name Stays Readable From the Sofa

On a 16-inch circular chart, the outer ring of 32 names still leaves each one enough room for a full name and a pair of dates set in proper typography. That is the difference between a chart people walk up to and read, and a decorative pattern nobody can make out.

It Matches How Far Most Research Really Goes

For families with roots in Britain or Ireland, six generations from someone born in the 1960s or 1970s reaches back to ancestors born in the early 1800s. Their adult lives fall inside civil registration (from 1837 in England and Wales, 1855 in Scotland and 1864 in Ireland) and the census returns from 1841, so this is where most well-researched trees are complete or nearly complete. Before that, you are relying on parish registers, and the gaps grow.

It Tells a Story With a Beginning and an End

Six generations is long enough to span two centuries of emigration, marriages, wars and moves from country to town, and short enough that every person on the chart is someone you can say something about. A chart that ends in a fringe of half-known names from the 1700s loses that focus.

A Circular Layout Uses the Space Properly

A traditional box-and-line tree wastes the paper around the centre and crams the outer generation along one edge. A circular chart gives each ring the room it needs, which is why six full generations fit comfortably on a single square print. The maths behind this is explained in The Geometry, History and Maths of Family Trees.

"But I Don't Have All 63 Names"

Almost nobody does, and that is fine. The two layouts we offer exist precisely for this:

• Full ancestry. For a tree where all six generations are traced. Every position on the chart is filled and the design reads as one complete, symmetrical piece.
• Partial lineage. For a tree with gaps. The branches you have traced are drawn in full, and the positions you have not yet found are left open rather than filled with placeholders. The result still reads as finished, and it is honest about where the research stands. It also leaves something for you, or the next generation, to add.

If one side of the family is well documented and the other is not, a partial lineage chart is often the better-looking choice: the eye is drawn to the full branches, and the empty ones become part of the composition rather than a flaw in it.

Adopted, Step and Blended Families

A pedigree chart is a map of relationships, not a blood test. The chart draws whichever parents your tree records for each person, so an adoptive parent or a step-parent who raised someone can take the parent's place and their ancestry fills that branch. If someone in your tree has two sets of parents recorded, birth and adoptive, tell us which line you would like drawn when you order, and we will follow your choice rather than the file's.

Individual or Couple in the Centre?

The second decision is who sits in the middle. A chart centred on one person shows that person's ancestry alone. A chart centred on a couple shows both partners' ancestry side by side, which makes it the natural choice for a wedding or anniversary gift, or for a chart that will hang in the home the couple share. Both layouts hold six generations; the couple layout simply carries two families' worth of names: 126 in all, the two of you in the centre plus 62 ancestors each.

Three Questions to Ask Before You Order

1. How far back can I name people with confidence? Count the generations from you outwards. Stop at the last generation where you have at least a few names you are sure of.
2. Are the gaps scattered or concentrated? A few missing names anywhere on the chart suit the partial lineage layout. If an entire outer ring is missing, a five-generation chart may look better than a six-generation one with an empty edge.
3. Who is the chart for? A chart for your own wall can be centred on you. A gift for a couple, or for a parent, is usually centred on them, and it is their six generations that matter.

Once you have your answers, export your tree as a GEDCOM file (the export guide covers Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast and the desktop programs) or fill in our structured spreadsheet after you order. Exporting your whole tree is fine: the people beyond six generations are simply not drawn.

Read next

The Geometry, History, and Maths of Family Trees Why circular charts solve the problem of doubling ancestors in print. How to Export Your Family Tree as a GEDCOM File Exact export steps for Ancestry, MyHeritage, Findmypast, FamilySearch, RootsMagic and Family Tree Maker.