- Free tool
- Opens in the editor
- Same link, same family
Random family tree generator that draws the chart
This random family tree generator makes an invented family of two to five generations and draws it as a chart in our editor. Choose the size of each family, the names, the era and how often people marry twice, then open the family in the full editor to change it, print it or export it, or copy a link that makes the same family again.
- People
- 25
- Generations
- 4
- Couples
- 8
- Second marriages
- 2
- Stepchildren
- 2
The chart is being opened.
Each family the random family tree generator makes is invented. The years, names and marriages are drawn by the generator from the choices above, and no real person is on the chart.
Make a family with the random family tree generator
The random family tree generator draws the family again each time a choice changes, so the chart always matches the choices beside or above it.
Set the shape
Choose two to five generations and a family size. A small family gives each couple one or two children, a large one three to five.
Set the names and the era
Choose American, Hispanic American or invented names, and an era. The names follow the decade of each birth, so a girl born in 1905 and her granddaughter born in 1985 have names of their own times.
Set the second marriages
Choose how often a married person in the second generation or later marries again after a divorce or the death of a husband or wife.
Keep, share or start again
Press New family for another family with the same choices, Copy the link to share this one, or Open in the editor to work on it.
What each choice of the random family tree generator changes
Every choice is written into the address of the page with the seed, which is how a link brings back the same family.
| Choice | Options | What it changes |
|---|---|---|
| Generations | Two to five | The rows of the chart. The youngest generation is drawn as children who have not married yet. |
| Family size | Small, medium, large | The children of each couple, one to two, two to three or three to five. |
| Names | American, Hispanic American, invented | The given names, the surnames and the way a child takes them. |
| Era | 1800s, 1900s, today, no dates | The birth year of the eldest generation and the years written under each name. |
| Second marriages | None, 10, 25 or 50 per cent | The chance that a married person marries again, which brings half-siblings and stepchildren. |
| Seed | Any word | Which family the choices make. The same seed and choices always make the same family. |
Where the names come from
The random family tree generator takes American names from two lists published by the United States government. Given names are drawn from the 40 most frequent of each decade in the Social Security Administration’s lists of popular baby names, from the 1880s, the earliest decade it publishes, to the 2010s. A person born before 1880 takes a name from the 1880s list. Surnames are drawn from the 100 most frequent in the Census Bureau’s file of surnames from the 2010 Census. Works of the United States government are not protected by copyright, and frequent names come up more often than rare ones, as they did in the records.
Hispanic American names use the Spanish given names among the 200 most frequent of each decade in the same lists, and the surnames of the 2010 Census that people of Hispanic or Latino origin held in 85 per cent or more of cases. A child takes the first surname of the father followed by the first surname of the mother, and a woman keeps her own surnames at marriage, as Spanish naming custom has it. In the American families a wife takes the surname of her husband, and the chart keeps her own as née.
Invented names are built from short syllables for a fantasy or science fiction world, with a house name in place of a surname. With no dates, the chart reads as a world with its own calendar.
The rules every generated family follows
A random family is only useful if it could be a real one. Each family the random family tree generator makes is checked against these rules, and the tests of the site run them on every combination of the choices and on hundreds of seeds.
The generations asked for
The eldest child of the main line always marries and has children, so a five-generation family has five rows.
Ages that make sense
Every parent is at least 16 years older than each child, a mother is at most 45 at a birth, and nobody marries before the age of 18.
Births and deaths in order
No child is born after a parent has died, and nobody dies after the present year.
One marriage at a time
A second marriage begins only after the first has ended in divorce or in the death of the husband or wife.
No marriages inside the family
Every husband or wife comes from another family, so no one marries a blood relative.
One name for each child
Brothers and sisters, including half-brothers and half-sisters, never share a first name.
Half-siblings and stepchildren
When a person marries a second time, the children are shared between the two marriages, which gives half-brothers and half-sisters. About two times in five, the new husband or wife brings a child from an earlier marriage, who is a stepchild of the family and is drawn with that one parent. A first marriage ends in divorce or in the death of the husband or wife, and the years of each marriage are kept with the couple.
The family tree calculator on this site names each of these relationships, so a generated family is a good tree to practise on. Open it in the editor, and the calculator can read it from this browser.
What to do with a random family tree
Writers use the random family tree generator for the first draft of a cast, keeping the people who suit the story and renaming the rest. Game masters roll a family for a village, a noble house or a ship’s crew, and give the players the chart. Teachers give a class a family nobody knows, to practise reading a tree without asking about their own. Software testers export a family as GEDCOM to try an import.
The family opens in the same editor as every chart on this site. There you can rename people, add a photo or initials to each medallion, move branches, and change the chart into a story chart with houses and story points, as the fantasy family tree maker explains.
Questions about the random family tree generator
What the random family tree generator costs
Generating, editing and sharing a link are free, with no account. A free account saves the chart and exports PNG and PDF files with a small mark, and JSON and GEDCOM files.
Whether the people are real
No. The random family tree generator draws every name from a list of frequent names and puts the names together at random, and it draws every year too. Any likeness to a real family is chance.
How a link makes the same family
The seed and the choices are in the address of the page. The generator starts from the seed each time, so the same address draws the same people, years and marriages in any browser.
The largest family the random family tree generator makes
Up to 50 people, the most one free chart holds. A large family of five generations reaches that size, and then some branches end without children.
Changing one person without changing the rest
Open the family in the editor. The random family tree generator makes the whole family again when a choice changes, while the editor keeps every change you make by hand.
Where the facts come from
- Social Security Administration, Top names of each decade The 200 most frequent names of each decade from the 1880s, read through the Internet Archive copy.
- United States Census Bureau, Frequently occurring surnames from the 2010 Census The 1,000 most frequent surnames with the share of each race and Hispanic origin.
- United States Code, title 17, section 105 Works of the United States government are not protected by copyright.
- Wikipedia, Spanish naming customs The first surname of the father, then the first surname of the mother.
Checked on 10 November 2026.
