greatgreatgrandparent

Greatgreatgrandparent, more commonly written as great-great-grandparent, is a genealogical term for an ancestor who stands four generations above the living person: the parent of one’s great-grandparent. The term denotes the generation directly above one’s great-grandparents and is the ancestor you would count as the fourth generation back in a family tree. The unhyphenated form greatgreatgrandparent is nonstandard but encountered in some texts.

In gendered usage, the equivalent terms are great-great-grandfather and great-great-grandmother; when gender is unknown or not specified, the gender-neutral great-great-grandparent is used. In family trees and histories, these individuals are often referenced by surname and approximate dates rather than by personal names, especially when records are sparse.

Practically, identifying great-great-grandparents requires reliable historical records such as birth, marriage, and death certificates, census listings, parish registers, or probate documents. The position of these ancestors makes them four generations removed from the present, and their estimated lifespans generally place their births a century or more in the past, depending on family generation lengths. Different cultures and languages have their own terms for this generation, but in English the standard term is great-great-grandparent. Understanding this generation helps trace lineage, establish genetic connections, and contextualize family history.