Ahnentafel

An Ahnentafel (or Ahnenreihe) is a list of a person's ancestors in a particular order. It is a construct used in genealogy to display a person's ancestry compactly, without the need for a diagram such as a family tree, which is particularly useful in situations where one may be restricted to using plain text, for example in e-mails or newsgroup articles.

It is effectively a traversal[?] of the family tree.

After listing the person as #1, you list their father as #2 and their mother as #3, then their grandparents as #4 to #7, and so on back through the generations. In this scheme, any person's father has double that person's number, and a person's mother has double the person's number plus one. Apart from #1, who can be male or female, all even-numbered persons are male, and all odd-numbered persons are female.

Demonstration

1. self
2. father
3. mother
4. father's father
5. father's mother
6. mother's father
7. mother's mother
8. father's father's father
9. father's father's mother
10. father's mother's father
11. father's mother's mother
12. mother's father's father
13. mother's father's mother
14. mother's mother's father
15. mother's mother's mother

For a real-life example, here is an ahnentafel of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

1. HRH Prince Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh (b. May 28, 1921 (O.S.))
2. HRH Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (January 20, 1882 - December 3, 1944)
3. HSH Princess Alice of Battenberg (February 25, 1885 - December 5, 1969)
4. HM King George I of the Hellenes (December 24, 1845 - March 18, 1913)
5. HIH Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia[?] (August 22, 1851 (O.S.) = September 3, 1851 (N.S.) - June 18/19[?], 1926).
6. HSH Prince Louis of Battenberg (after 1917 Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven) (May 24, 1854 - November 9, 1921).
7. HGDH Princess Victoria Alberta of Hesse and the Rhine (April 5, 1863 - September 24, 1950).
8. HM King Christian IX of Denmark (April 8, 1818 - January 29. 1906)
9. HH Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel (September 7, 1817 - September 29, 1898)
10. HIH Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaievich of Russia[?] (September 9, 1827 (O.S.) = September 21, 1827 (N.S.) - January 12/13[?], 1892 (O.S.) = January 24/25[?], 1892 (N.S.))
11. HH Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg (July 8, 1830 - June 23, 1911 (O.S) = July 6, 1911 (N.S.))
12. HGDH Prince Alexander of Hesse and the Rhine (July 15, 1823 - December 15, 1888)
13. HSH Julia von Hauke, Princess of Battenberg (November 24, 1825 - September 19, 1895)
14. HRH Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and the Rhine (September 12, 1837 - March 13, 1892)
15. HRH Princess Alice of Great Britain and Ireland[?] (April 25, 1843 - December 14, 1878)
16. HH Duke Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksborg (January 4, 1785 - February 17, 1831)
17. HH Princess Louisa of Hesse-Kassel[?] (September 28, 1789 - March 13, 1867)
18. HH Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Kassel[?] (December 24, 1787 - September 5, 1867)
19. HRH Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark[?] (October 30, 1789 - March 28, 1864)
20. HIM Emperor Nicholas I of Russia (June 25, 1796 (O.S.) = July 6, 1796 (N.S.) - February 18, 1855 (O.S.) = March 2, 1855 (N.S.))
21. HRH Princess Charlotte of Prussia (July 13, 1798 - October 20, 1860 (O.S.) = November 1, 1860 (N.S.))
22. HH Duke Joseph of Saxe-Altenburg (August 27, 1789 - November 25, 1868)
23. HRH Duchess Amalie of Württemberg(June 28, 1799 - November 28, 1848)
24. HRH Grand Duke Louis II of Hesse and the Rhine (December 26, 1777 - June 16, 1848)
25. HGDH Princess Wilhelmina of Baden (September 10, 1788 - January 27, 1836)
26. Johann Moritz von Hauke(October 26, 1775 - November 29, 1830).
27. Sophie la Fontaine Born in 1790 - August 27, 1831).
28. HGDH Prince Karl of Hessen and the Rhine (April 23, 1809 - March 20, 1877).
29. HRH Princess Elisabeth of Prussia (June 18, 1815 - March 21, 1885).
30. HRH Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (August 26, 1819 - December 14, 1861)
31. HM Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (May 24, 1819 - January 22, 1901).