A family without names
The full Addams Family family tree starts with a household that had no names at all. Charles Addams published the first cartoon of the family in The New Yorker in 1938, as a single panel gag, and he kept drawing them for the magazine for decades.1 In those cartoons the tall pale mother, the father, the daughter, the son, the old witch and the giant butler appear again and again, but no caption tells the reader who is related to whom.
The names came later and in two steps. Morticia and Wednesday were named for a licensed doll line in 1962, and Gomez and Pugsley were named when the ABC series began in 1964.1 Addams first proposed Granny Frump for the grandmother, and that early name is one reason later versions place her on different sides of the family.3 Thing was first seen in the cartoons in 1954, before it became the living hand that the series made famous.1
Because the cartoons never fix the relationships, the chart treats them as a sketch. The family tree proper begins with the 1964 series.
Gomez, Grandmama, Fester and Itt
At the centre of every version stands Gomez Addams, husband of Morticia and father of Wednesday and Pugsley. The ABC series premiered on 18 September 1964 and ran for two seasons, and it fixed the household that most later versions start from.1 In that series Grandmama is Gomez’s mother, a witch who makes potions and tells fortunes, and Cousin Itt is Gomez’s cousin.34
The biggest change between versions is the place of Uncle Fester. In the 1964 series he is Morticia’s uncle, the brother of her mother.24 The 1973 animated series made him Gomez’s brother, and the 1991 film went further and made him Gomez’s long-lost elder brother, who returns without his memory after years as Gordon Craven, the supposed son of a loan shark.12 From then on Fester is Gomez’s brother in every major version, including the animated films and Wednesday.25 The chart draws the uncle line only at the 1964 position and the brother line from the films on.
Grandmama moves as well. The 1998 series named her Eudora Addams and made her the mother of both Gomez and Fester, and the animated films of 2019 and 2021 keep her as the mother of the two brothers.3 In the 1991 and 1993 films the grandmother who lives with the family belongs to Morticia’s side, and SlashFilm reads the films as placing Gomez’s own mother in the family graveyard.34 Wednesday leaves Gomez’s mother out altogether.
The films add one marriage on this side. In Addams Family Values Fester marries Debbie Jellinsky, the nanny of the new baby, who plans to kill him for his money and dies by electrocution.24 Cousin Itt also gains a wife in the films. Margaret, the former wife of Gomez’s lawyer, takes up with him in 1991, and in 1993 the two have a baby.4 Neither marriage carries over into the animated films.
Morticia and the Frumps
Morticia is an Addams by marriage. Her own family are the Frumps, and her mother is Hester Frump.25 The 1964 series already names Hester as the sister of Fester, which is how Fester comes to be Morticia’s uncle in that version.2 Morticia’s sister Ophelia also belongs to the 1964 series, as a cheerful young woman with flowers in her hair.14
In the films of 1991 and 1993 the grandmother of the house is Granny Frump, the mother of Morticia and Ophelia, and she is alive and living with the family.4 The 2019 animated film keeps her on Morticia’s side but makes her dead, so that she speaks to her daughter from a crystal ball.4 The chart keeps one Hester Frump throughout and lets her state change at each position.
Wednesday gives the Frumps their largest part. Season 2 brings in Hester as Grandmama, a mortuary mogul and one of the richest outcasts in the world, played by Joanna Lumley.67 Lumley has described Hester as a mother who thinks Morticia married beneath her and has little use for Gomez.7 Like Morticia, Ophelia was a Raven at Nevermore, and her journal drives part of the plot. At the end of season 2 she is revealed alive in a hidden room of Hester’s house.7
Wednesday, Pugsley, Pubert and the household
Wednesday is the elder child in most versions and Pugsley her younger brother.5 Addams Family Values adds a third child, Pubert, born to Gomez and Morticia in the 1993 film.14 Pubert does not return in the animated films or in Wednesday, so the chart shows him at the films position only.
Netflix’s Wednesday sends the daughter to Nevermore Academy, a school for outcasts. Season 1 premiered on 23 November 2022 and follows a mystery that reaches back twenty-five years into her family.1 It also gives the family its oldest named member, Goody Addams, an ancestor of Wednesday from whom the Addams line is thought to descend.5 In season 2, released in two parts on 6 August and 3 September 2025, Pugsley begins his own time at Nevermore.8
Two members of the house are not related by blood. Lurch is the butler in the cartoons and the series and the family’s driver in Wednesday, and Thing is the living hand that serves the family and becomes Wednesday’s confidant and helper at school.61 The chart puts both in a grey household group, apart from the Addams and Frump lines, and draws a service line from each to the person they serve.
Where the versions disagree
The table sets the main relationships side by side. Where the sources read a version differently, the table follows the reading of most sources and the text above gives the other.
| Version | Uncle Fester | Grandmama | Children | Other kin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cartoons, from 1938 | No name and no stated tie | The old witch, first called Granny Frump | A daughter and a son, unnamed | None named |
| ABC series, 1964 to 1966 | Morticia’s uncle, brother of Hester Frump | Gomez’s mother | Wednesday and Pugsley | Cousin Itt, Ophelia |
| Films, 1991 and 1993 | Gomez’s long-lost elder brother | Granny Frump, Morticia’s mother | Wednesday, Pugsley and Pubert | Debbie, Margaret |
| The New Addams Family, 1998 | Gomez’s brother | Eudora, mother of Gomez and Fester | Wednesday and Pugsley | None on this chart |
| Animated films, 2019 and 2021 | Gomez’s brother | Mother of Gomez and Fester | Wednesday and Pugsley | Granny Frump, dead |
| Wednesday, 2022 and 2025 | Gomez’s brother | Hester Frump, Morticia’s mother | Wednesday and Pugsley | Goody Addams, Ophelia |
The Addams Family tree version by version
Each card gives the family as one version draws it, in the order of the versions over the chart. The last card gives away the end of Wednesday season 2.
From 1938
The New Yorker cartoons
Spoiler note. Nothing beyond the cartoons.
- Charles Addams draws a household of mother, father, daughter, son, grandmother and butler, all unnamed.
- Thing appears in 1954.
1964 to 1966
The ABC series
Spoiler note. The names and the first family tree.
- Gomez and Morticia are married with two children, Wednesday and Pugsley.
- Grandmama is Gomez’s mother, and Fester is Morticia’s uncle and Hester Frump’s brother.
- Itt is Gomez’s cousin, and Ophelia is Morticia’s sister.
1991 and 1993
The two films
Spoiler note. Fester’s return and the plot of the second film.
- Fester returns as Gomez’s lost elder brother.
- Pubert is born, and Fester marries Debbie Jellinsky, who tries to kill him and dies.
- Granny Frump, Morticia’s mother, lives with the family.
2019 and 2021
The animated films
Spoiler note. Nothing beyond the setting.
- Grandmama is the mother of Gomez and Fester.
- Granny Frump is dead and speaks from a crystal ball.
2022
Wednesday, season 1
Spoiler note. Nothing beyond the family of season 1.
- Wednesday enrols at Nevermore Academy.
- Goody Addams appears as Wednesday’s ancestor, and Fester is Gomez’s brother.
2025
Wednesday, season 2
Spoiler note. The ending of season 2 is told.
- Pugsley joins his sister at Nevermore.
- Hester Frump, Morticia’s mother, arrives as Grandmama.
- Aunt Ophelia is revealed alive in a hidden room of Hester’s house.
How to read this Addams Family tree
A square is a man and a circle is a woman. Thing, which has no sex, is drawn with the symbol for an unknown person. A double line is a marriage, and the lines that drop from it lead to the children. Three coloured groups divide the chart. The dark group is the Addams line, the plum group is the Frumps, and the grey group is the household staff.
The coloured lines carry the relationships that change between versions. The gold dashed line from Fester to Morticia reads uncle and niece and appears only in the 1964 series. The blue double line between Gomez and Fester reads brothers and is drawn from the films on. The dotted purple arrow from Goody Addams to Wednesday marks an ancestor many generations back, from Wednesday season 1 on. With every version shown at once, these lines are dash-dotted and carry the names of their versions.
Read this way, the full Addams Family family tree is less one tree than six trees that share a core. Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday and Pugsley never change. To build a family tree of another series, open this chart in the editor or start from the story charts. The symbols are set out in the genogram symbols.
Questions about the Addams Family tree
Is Fester Gomez’s brother or Morticia’s uncle
Both, in different versions. He is Morticia’s uncle in the 1964 series and Gomez’s brother from the 1970s on, including the 1991 film and Wednesday.24
Whose mother is Grandmama
Gomez’s in the 1964 series and the animated films. In the 1991 and 1993 films and in Wednesday the grandmother of the story is Morticia’s mother.3
How many children do Gomez and Morticia have
Two in most versions, Wednesday and Pugsley. Addams Family Values adds a baby son, Pubert.1
People and sources
A page of its own lists all 15 characters on the chart, each with a short note and the sources for it, and the nine numbered sources this article cites. It also gives the credits of the pictures and this page as a reference in the APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles, ready to copy.