Articles
Yetti pusht: the seven generations and how to trace them
Updated: 6 October 2026
“Yetti pushtingni bil” — “know your ancestors seven generations back” — is a saying in Uzbek families. Here is what it means, how generations are counted and where to look for the ones nobody remembers any more.
What yetti pusht is
Pusht means a generation. Yetti pusht is seven generations along the direct line: father, grandfather, great-grandfather and on up. Knowing them was seen as everyone’s duty — the memory of the family and the answer to “whose son are you?”
Traditionally the line runs through the father, but many families today trace the mother’s line too — it matters just as much.
How generations are counted
The count usually starts with the father and goes up:
- father (ota) — the first generation;
- grandfather (bobo) — the second;
- great-grandfather (katta bobo) — the third;
- then the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.
Some families count the person themselves as well, so a different ancestor ends up seventh. Agree on one way of counting and there is no confusion.
Names for the distant generations vary by region and family. If yours has its own word for a great-grandfather’s father, write down exactly that word.
Where to start
- Write down what you know yourself: names, years, places.
- Ask the elders — grandparents and their brothers and sisters. Record the conversation: no archive can give you back a voice.
- Gather documents: birth and marriage certificates, passports, military records, employment books.
- Read the inscriptions on gravestones — they often give the years of life and the father’s name.
- Compare the stories of different branches: they fill each other’s gaps.
Where the chain usually breaks
The gap most often opens at the fourth or fifth generation: nobody alive has met them. Patronymics and surnames ending in -ov/-ev help here — a surname like Rahimov was often formed from a grandfather’s or great-grandfather’s name. Distant relatives on the same line are worth asking too.
Shajara has a dedicated Dynasty screen: it shows the direct line up through the father or the mother, how many generations are known and where the gap is. The “Add here” button sits on the very first empty generation.
How to keep the result
Once the line is complete, print it: Shajara makes a seven-generation sheet and a poster of the whole tree on A4, A3 or A2. Send the .shajara file to your relatives so each branch can fill in its own part.
