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Genogram vs Family Tree

A genogram vs family tree comparison starts with what you want to record. A family tree records who was born to whom. A genogram records the same people and adds what a family tree has no place for, which is the quality of the relationships between them and the health that runs through the generations. This page sets the two side by side and shows how a tree that already exists becomes a genogram.

Last checked on 5 November 20266 minute read

Rivera genogram with Rosa, Elena, Mateo and Lucía. Lucía has a double outline as the focus person.
Rivera family tree showing Rosa above her daughter Elena and Lucía below Elena and Mateo.
The same fictional family in both diagrams. The tree shows descent with names in boxes. The genogram uses symbols and marks Lucía as the focus person.

At a glance

A genogramA family tree
PurposeTo understand a family as a system around one person.To record descent and ancestry.
CentreThe index person, marked with a double line.An ancestor at the top or a descendant at the bottom.
NotationMcGoldrick, Gerson and Petry, with a key on the chart.None fixed. Names in boxes, joined by lines.
RelationshipsDescent, every kind of union, and emotional ties.Descent and marriage.
HealthConditions, causes of death and patterns across generations.Rarely, and in notes if at all.
Who draws itTherapists, social workers, nurses, doctors and students.Genealogists and families.

A family tree records descent, and a genogram records a system

A family tree begins with an ancestor and follows the generations down, or begins with one person and follows the parents up. Each person is a name with dates, each marriage is a line, and each child hangs beneath the couple. The chart answers questions of ancestry and says nothing about how these people got on with one another, because the records rarely do.

A genogram begins with one person, the index, marked with a double line, and draws the family around them for three generations or so. It uses a fixed notation, that of McGoldrick, Gerson and Petry, in which a square is a man, a circle is a woman, a cross through a symbol is a death, a horizontal line is a union and a vertical line is a child. The purpose is not to record ancestry but to see a pattern, such as a depression that appears in three generations or a conflict that has been handed from mother to daughter.

601784–1844Ernest IDuke ofSaxe-Coburgand Gotha301800–1831Louise ofSaxe-Gotha-AltenburgCancer521767–1820Edward (Duke of Kent)741786–1861Victoria ofSaxe-Coburg-Saalfeld421819–1861Albert of Saxe-Coburgand Gotha811819–1901VictoriaHaemophilia B carrierQueen of theUnited Kingdom571831–1888Frederick IIIGerman Emperor611840–1901VictoriaPrincess Royal,German Empress691841–1910Albert EdwardKing of the UnitedKingdom811844–1925Alexandra of Denmark551837–1892Louis IV of HesseGrand Duke of Hesse351843–1878AliceHaemophilia B carrier561844–1900AlfredDuke ofSaxe-Coburgand Gotha671853–1920Maria Alexandrovna861831–1917Christian ofSchleswig-Holstein771846–1923Helena691845–1914John Campbell (Duke ofArgyll)911848–1939Louise921850–1942ArthurDuke ofConnaught571860–1917Louise Margaret ofPrussia311853–1884LeopoldHaemophilia BDuke of Albany611861–1922Helena ofWaldeck-Pyrmont381858–1896Henry of Battenberg871857–1944BeatriceHaemophilia B carrier671862–1929Henry of Prussia871866–1953Irene of HesseHaemophilia B carrier31870–1873Friedrich of HesseHaemophilia B501868–1918Nicholas IIEmperor ofRussia461872–1918Alix of HesseHaemophilia B carrier551886–1941Alfonso XIIIKing of Spain821887–1969Victoria EugenieHaemophilia B carrierQueen of Spain561889–1945Waldemar of PrussiaHaemophilia B41900–1904Heinrich of PrussiaHaemophilia B141904–1918Alexei NikolaevichHaemophilia BTsarevich311907–1938Alfonso (Prince ofAsturias)Haemophilia B201914–1934GonzaloHaemophilia BInfante ofSpain
Queen Victoria · the royal diseaseA family that is usually drawn as a tree, drawn here as a genogram. The condition that passed through the generations is coloured, and the editor names it in the key when the template is opened.

The genogram adds the lines that a family tree has no place for

The emotional lines are what most people notice first. A family tree joins a couple with a single line and says nothing more. A genogram can say that the couple is married, cohabiting, separated or divorced, and with a second line between the two symbols it can say that they are close, fused, distant or hostile, or that one is cut off from the other. The same lines run between a parent and a child, between siblings and between any two people on the chart.

Health is the second addition. A genogram shades or colours a symbol for a condition, names the condition in the key, records the cause of death beside the cross, and so lets a reader follow a condition down the generations by eye. A family tree might note a cause of death in a comment, but the notation has no place for it. The third addition is the household, a dotted outline around the people who live together, which matters to a social worker in a way it never matters to a genealogist.

681958–Ruth421984–Leah

Close

681958–Ruth421984–Leah

Fused

681958–Ruth421984–Leah

Distant

681958–Ruth421984–Leah

Hostile

681958–Ruth421984–Leah

Cutoff

Five of the emotional lines of the standard notation, drawn by the editor from its notation reference. None of them exists in a family tree.

A genetic pedigree and a genogram answer different questions

A pedigree is the family chart of genetics. It shows how a trait or a health condition is inherited through the generations of a family, with the relationships and, where the information exists, who has the trait. It starts from the proband, the affected person through whom the family came to attention, as a genogram starts from its index person, and often records a consultand, the person seeking counselling, who may be unaffected.

The difference between a genogram and a pedigree lies in how each is read. A genetic counsellor reads a pedigree for a pattern of inheritance. A genogram is read for the family as a system. The National Society of Genetic Counselors proposed a standard pedigree nomenclature in 1995, reviewed it in 2008 and revised how it records sex and gender in 2022. Draw a pedigree when a genetics clinic asks for one, and a genogram when the relationships matter as much as the condition.

Weiss–Tanaka householdadopted 1994adopted 1994751929–2004Samuel WeissBreast cancerPancreatic cancerTailor921934–Esther WeissRetiredbookkeeper891937–António SantosRetired fisherman861940–Fernanda SantosBreast cancerRetired cook711955–Alan KleinRetiredarchitect541957–2011Miriam KleinOvarian cancerMusic teacher661960–Jonathan WeissOptometrist641962–David WeissBRCA2 carrierProstate cancerCharteredsurveyor621964–Maria WeissRetired nurse321994–Noah KleinData analyst401986–Hannah WeissBreast cancerBRCA2 carrierSolicitor371989–Rachel WeissBRCA2 carrierSpeech therapist391987–Kenji TanakaChef112015–Lily TanakaSchool student
Hereditary breast and ovarian cancer across four generationsA fictional BRCA2 family drawn as a genogram. A pedigree would show the same descent, carriers and cancers, and the genogram can add the relationships around them.

A GEDCOM file turns a family tree into a genogram in a few steps

A family tree already holds most of the structure of a genogram, so the work is to add what it leaves out. Export the tree from the genealogy program as a GEDCOM file, open the editor here, choose Export and then Import a family file, and select the file. Genogram Builder reads the individuals, families, dates and notes, shows how many people and connections it found, and lists anything it could not read before anything is placed. You then choose the index person, and the chart is arranged by generation around them with no line crossing a name.

A file of up to 50 people opens without an account and on a free account, and Pro removes the limit. Trim a larger tree in the genealogy program first to the three or four generations that matter, because a genogram of three hundred people is not one anyone can read.

Feature by feature

Each row states what the two products offer in their own terms. Checked on 20 October 2026 against the notation reference on this site.

FeatureA genogramA family tree
People and dates
Names and datesIncluded. Birth, death and age inside or beside the symbol.Included. Birth, death and often marriage dates.
GenerationsIn part. Usually three around the index person.Included. As many as the records allow.
An index personIncluded. Marked with a double line.Not included. None. The tree starts from an ancestor or a descendant.
Relationships
Parent and childIncluded. Biological, adopted, foster, step and donor lines.Included. A line of descent, sometimes marked adopted.
Emotional tiesIncluded. Close, fused, distant, hostile, cut off and the rest of the standard set.Not included. None.
HouseholdsIncluded. A dotted outline around the people who live together.Not included. None.
Health and context
ConditionsIncluded. Shaded or coloured symbols, named in the key.Not included. None in the notation. Sometimes a note.
Notation and files
A key on the chartIncluded. On every chart drawn here.Not included. Rarely needed.
File formatIn part. A JSON backup here. GEDCOM, GenoPro and Gramps files are read in.Included. GEDCOM, read and written by nearly every genealogy program.
IncludedOn a paid planIn partNot includedNot stated

Sources: Genogram symbols and relationship lines, the documentation.

Before you decide

Whether a genogram can hold a whole family tree

Start with the three or four generations around the person you are focusing on, and keep the wider ancestry in the tree, so a reader can follow the relationships that matter to the question.

Whether a family tree can be made from a genogram

Not as a GEDCOM file from here. Genogram Builder exports PNG, PDF, SVG and a JSON backup, which genealogy programs do not read. A genogram drawn here can be printed or placed in a family history as an image.

Which one a school or university assignment wants

A family tree assignment asks for ancestry, and a drawing of names and dates answers it. A genogram assignment in nursing, social work or counselling asks for the notation, the emotional lines, the health and the household, and usually for a key. If the brief mentions McGoldrick, three generations or relationships, it is asking for a genogram.

Sources and methodology

We make Genogram Builder. We used the references below for this comparison. Last checked on 5 November 2026.

Draw a genogram in the browser now, or import a GEDCOM file from your family tree and add the ties here. No account is needed to begin.

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