3-Generation Genogram
A 3 generation genogram is a family diagram with three stacked bands: the index person and their siblings at the bottom, their parents (plus any aunts and uncles) in the middle, and all four grandparents on top. The smallest one has 7 people (4 grandparents, 2 parents, 1 index person) joined by 3 union lines and 3 child lines, drawn in standard symbols: a square for male, a circle for female, an X for deceased, and a double outline for the index person.
In this tool's own library, 10 of the 13 built-in templates span exactly three generations, and the median one holds 9 people (range 5–11), which is the size the example below uses.
A live three-generation example with four grandparents, two parents plus an aunt, and two children, laid out on clean generation bands. All names are fictional. Edit it directly, or rename the people into your own family.
Drag people to arrange. Click a person to edit their details.
Editable preview — your changes aren't saved here.
- Add people with the ▢ ◯ ◇ buttons, then click the canvas.
- Use Connect… for marriages, children, and emotional lines.
- Click a person to edit name, years, deceased, notes.
- Drag to arrange, or hit Auto-arrange.
- Export as PNG or PDF — the legend builds itself.
Includes a title block and an auto-generated legend of the symbols you used.
Your genogram autosaves in your browser. Get our symbol cheat sheet + templates by email so you can pick it up anywhere:
The three bands
The layout above follows the convention that vertical position means generation and nothing else. The top band holds all four grandparents — William and Margaret on the paternal side, Harold and Joan on the maternal, with Harold marked deceased. The middle band holds the parents' generation: Michael, his sister Patricia, and Michael's wife Sandra. The bottom band holds Alex, the index person with the doubled outline, and their sister Chloe.
Keeping the bands strict is what makes a three-generation diagram readable at a glance. If a person drifts between bands, a reader can no longer trust vertical position, and the diagram has to be decoded person by person instead.
Who goes on each band
| Band | Who | Minimum | In the example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st generation (top) | All four grandparents, as two couples | 4 | 4 |
| 2nd generation (middle) | Both parents, plus aunts and uncles where they matter | 2 | 3 |
| 3rd generation (bottom) | The index person and their siblings | 1 | 2 |
| Total | Plus 3 union lines and 5 child lines in the example | 7 | 9 |
Going to four generations adds great-grandparents as a new top band, which doubles the top row from 4 people to 8 before any siblings are added. That growth is one reason three is the working standard for a family genogram.
Building it in order
- Index person first. Place them at the bottom centre with the doubled outline, leaving room above for two more bands.
- Parents, with their union type. Father to the left. Mark the union — marriage, cohabitation, separation, divorce — and date it on the line if you know the year.
- Both sets of grandparents. Work up each side in turn rather than alternating, which makes it easier to notice a missing person.
- Siblings, aunts and uncles. Attach each to the correct union, ordered oldest to youngest.
- Years and notes, then the emotional layer. Structure before interpretation, always — it keeps fact and inference visually separable.
What three generations lets you see
The example above is deliberately structural, with no emotional lines, so the skeleton is visible. Once you add that layer, look for repetition across the bands: the same union type recurring, an estrangement in each generation, ages at death clustering, a role such as caretaker reappearing. Anniversary effects also become visible — a crisis landing on the anniversary of a family loss is only noticeable when death years are on the page.
A repeat across three generations is a hypothesis worth exploring, not a verdict. Its value is in sharpening the next question.
Related
For the clinical reading of a three-generation diagram with the emotional layer switched on, see genograms in family therapy. For a health-history version of the same three bands, see genograms in nursing. The full walkthrough is at how to make a genogram, ready-made starting points at genogram templates, an unlabelled three-generation layout at the blank genogram template, the Word route at genogram in Word, and every symbol at the symbols reference.
3-generation genogram FAQ
›What is a 3-generation genogram?
It is a genogram spanning the index person, their parents, and their grandparents. Three generations is the standard scope in clinical and academic use because it is the shortest span in which a pattern can be seen repeating rather than occurring once.
›Why three generations specifically?
With two generations you can only observe that something happened. With three you can observe that it happened again — divorce following divorce, an estrangement in each generation, illness clustering at similar ages. Bowen family systems theory treats that multigenerational transmission as the unit of interest, so three generations is the minimum useful window.
›Who is included in a 3 generation genogram?
Three bands of people. The bottom band is the index person (the one the genogram is about) and their siblings; the middle band is their parents plus any aunts and uncles; the top band is all four grandparents. Partners are joined by union lines (marriage, divorce, separation, cohabitation) and each child hangs from their parents' union by a drop line. The minimum is 7 people: 4 grandparents, 2 parents and the index person.
›How many people are in a 3-generation genogram?
At least 7, and more with every sibling, aunt or uncle you add. In this tool's own library, 10 of the 13 built-in templates span exactly three generations, and they hold between 5 and 11 people, with a median of 9. Many clinicians give the index person's line full detail and include only the relevant relatives above it, which keeps the diagram readable.
›Do I need to include aunts, uncles and cousins?
Include them where they carry information — a shared diagnosis, a caretaking role, an estrangement that echoes one below. A complete census of the extended family usually makes the diagram harder to read without adding insight. Check your rubric, though; some assignments require the full sibling set in each generation.
›How do I lay out three generations neatly?
Keep each generation on its own horizontal band so that vertical position always means generation, and never let a person drift between bands. Place fathers on the left of unions and order children oldest to youngest, left to right. Auto-arrange in the editor above aligns the bands for you once the people and lines are in.
›Is there a free three generation genogram maker or template?
Yes: the editor on this page is a free three generation genogram maker, preloaded with a 9-person example you can rename into your own family, with no signup. If you want the structure with every label empty, the blank genogram template is three generations already connected. Both export to PNG or PDF with a legend of the symbols you used.
›Can I make a 3 generation genogram template in Word?
You can draw one by hand with Word's shapes and connectors, but keeping three bands aligned by hand is slow. The quicker route is to build it here, export a PNG, and insert the image into your Word document. The genogram in Word guide covers both methods.