The Numbered Generation System, 1 to 7, in a Family Tree

Every family tree needs one thing before anything else: a way of saying who sits on which level. Without it, "great-grandparent on my mother's side" and "great-grandparent on my father's side" blur into a single chart nobody can read.

Seven levels, one name each

NASAB uses seven numbered levels. Each level's name is taken from kinship terms that are already in everyday use, not from newly invented technical vocabulary:

• Generation 1 — Root. The oldest recorded member; nobody sits above them.
• Generation 2 — Parents. Children of the Root.
• Generation 3 — Children.
• Generation 4 — Grandchildren.
• Generation 5 — Great-grandchildren.
• Generation 6 — Great-great-grandchildren.
• Generation 7 — Great-great-great-grandchildren.

The number is calculated, not typed

You never choose anyone's generation. The system works it out from that person's position in the tree: the distance from the Root sets the number. Adding a new generation below changes nobody's number; attaching a branch to a newly found ancestor renumbers that branch automatically.

The effect shows most clearly when a family discovers one generation older than it thought. In a handwritten book, that discovery means redrawing the entire chart. In the system, it is a single edit.

Colour supports the reading; it does not carry it

Each level has its own colour, forming a ladder from dark to light green: generation 1 is darkest, generation 7 lightest. That ordering carries meaning — dark is the root, light is the newest branch.

But seven steps within one colour are harder to tell apart than seven different colours, and some readers cannot distinguish them at all. That is why the generation number is always displayed alongside its colour. Colour speeds up the reading; it is never the only thing carrying the information.

Cycles are rejected before saving

The most common mistake in a large family tree is setting someone as the parent of a person who is in fact their own ancestor — usually because two people share a name. The system checks for this before saving and refuses the link, because generation calculation on a looping tree never terminates.

When you need more than seven levels

Seven levels cover roughly 200 years. Families tracing further back usually split the record into several linked trees, each with its oldest verified member as its Root. A merge then joins two of those trees once the connection is proven.