GEDCOM Tags Reference

— standard and program-defined tags in GEDCOM 5.5 & 7.0

Use the search box below to quickly find any tag by code or description

GEDCOM (Genealogical Data Communication) is the standard file format for exchanging family history data between programs. All major genealogy programs support GEDCOM import and export. Tags are the short codes that label each piece of information in a GEDCOM file.

🆕 GEDCOM 7.0 — What's New (released 2021)

GEDCOM 7.0 is the latest version of the standard, released by FamilySearch in May 2021. While GEDCOM 5.5.1 remains the most widely used version in the genealogy community, 7.0 introduces important improvements:

SNOTE — new Shared Note tag replaces the old dual-use NOTE record
INIL — replaces the old WAC (Baptism LDS) tag
GEDZip (.gdz) — zip packaging of GEDCOM plus photos and media files together
ADR1, ADR2, ADR3 — deprecated in 7.0 (use ADDR instead)
UTF-8 required throughout — no more ANSEL encoding
SEX — now explicitly defined as biological sex at birth; other gender concepts handled as attributes
PHRASE — new substructure for date phrases and age phrases previously embedded in values

Full specification: gedcom.io/specs · Migration guide: gedcom.io/migrate

Standard GEDCOM 5.5 Tags

Tag	Full Name	Description
ABBR	ABBREVIATION	A short name of a title, description, or name.
ADDR	ADDRESS	The contemporary place, usually required for postal purposes, of an individual, submitter, repository, business, school, or company.
ADR1	ADDRESS1	The first line of an address. Deprecated in GEDCOM 7.0 — use ADDR instead.
ADR2	ADDRESS2	The second line of an address. Deprecated in GEDCOM 7.0 — use ADDR instead.
ADOP	ADOPTION	Pertaining to creation of a child-parent relationship that does not exist biologically.
AFN	AFN	A unique permanent record file number of an individual record stored in Ancestral File.
AGE	AGE	The age of the individual at the time an event occurred, or the age listed in the document.
AGNC	AGENCY	The institution or individual having authority and/or responsibility to manage or govern.
ALIA	ALIAS	An indicator to link different record descriptions of a person who may be the same person.
ANCE	ANCESTORS	Pertaining to forbearers of an individual.
ANCI	ANCES_INTEREST	Indicates an interest in additional research for ancestors of this individual. (See also DESI)
ANUL	ANNULMENT	Declaring a marriage void from the beginning (never existed).
ASSO	ASSOCIATES	An indicator to link friends, neighbours, relatives, or associates of an individual.
AUTH	AUTHOR	The name of the individual who created or compiled information.
BAPL	BAPTISM-LDS	The event of baptism performed at age eight or later by priesthood authority of the LDS Church. (See also BAPM)
BAPM	BAPTISM	The event of baptism (not LDS), performed in infancy or later. (See also BAPL and CHR)
BARM	BAR_MITZVAH	The ceremonial event held when a Jewish boy reaches age 13.
BASM	BAS_MITZVAH	The ceremonial event held when a Jewish girl reaches age 13 (Bat Mitzvah).
BIRT	BIRTH	The event of entering into life.
BLES	BLESSING	A religious event of bestowing divine care or intercession. Sometimes given in connection with a naming ceremony.
BURI	BURIAL	The event of the proper disposing of the mortal remains of a deceased person.
CALN	CALL_NUMBER	The number used by a repository to identify specific items in its collections.
CAST	CASTE	The name of an individual's rank or status in society, based on racial or religious differences, or differences in wealth, inherited rank, or occupation.
CAUS	CAUSE	A description of the cause of the associated event or fact, such as the cause of death.
CENS	CENSUS	The event of the periodic count of the population for a designated locality, such as a national Census.
CHAN	CHANGE	Indicates a change, correction, or modification. Typically used with DATE to specify when a change in information occurred.
CHAR	CHARACTER	An indicator of the character set used in writing this automated information.
CHIL	CHILD	The natural, adopted, or sealed (LDS) child of a father and a mother.
CHR	CHRISTENING	The religious event (not LDS) of baptising and/or naming a child.
CHRA	ADULT_CHRISTENING	The religious event (not LDS) of baptising and/or naming an adult person.
CITY	CITY	A lower level jurisdictional unit. Normally an incorporated municipal unit.
CONC	CONCATENATION	An indicator that additional data belongs to the superior value, connected without a space or line break.
CONF	CONFIRMATION	The religious event (not LDS) of conferring the gift of the Holy Ghost and, among Protestants, full church membership.
CONL	CONFIRMATION_L	The religious event by which a person receives membership in the LDS Church.
CONT	CONTINUED	An indicator that additional data belongs to the superior value, connected with a carriage return/line break.
COPR	COPYRIGHT	A statement that accompanies data to protect it from unlawful duplication and distribution.
CORP	CORPORATE	A name of an institution, agency, corporation, or company.
CREM	CREMATION	Disposal of the remains of a person's body by fire.
CTRY	COUNTRY	The name or code of the country.
DATA	DATA	Pertaining to stored automated information.
DATE	DATE	The time of an event in a calendar format.
DEAT	DEATH	The event when mortal life terminates.
DESC	DESCENDANTS	Pertaining to offspring of an individual.
DESI	DESCENDANT_INT	Indicates an interest in research to identify additional descendants of this individual. (See also ANCI)
DEST	DESTINATION	A system receiving data.
DIV	DIVORCE	An event of dissolving a marriage through civil action.
DIVF	DIVORCE_FILED	An event of filing for a divorce by a spouse.
DSCR	PHY_DESCRIPTION	The physical characteristics of a person, place, or thing.
EDUC	EDUCATION	Indicator of a level of education attained.
EMIG	EMIGRATION	An event of leaving one's homeland with the intent of residing elsewhere.
ENDL	ENDOWMENT	A religious event where an endowment ordinance was performed by priesthood authority in an LDS temple.
ENGA	ENGAGEMENT	An event of recording or announcing an agreement between two people to become married.
EVEN	EVENT	A noteworthy happening related to an individual, a group, or an organisation.
FAM	FAMILY	Identifies a legal, common law, or customary relationship of man and woman and their children, or a family created by the birth of a child to its biological parents.
FAMC	FAMILY_CHILD	Identifies the family in which an individual appears as a child.
FAMF	FAMILY_FILE	Pertaining to, or the name of, a family file used for temple ordinance work.
FAMS	FAMILY_SPOUSE	Identifies the family in which an individual appears as a spouse.
FCOM	FIRST_COMMUNION	A religious rite — the first act of sharing in the Lord's supper as part of church worship.
FILE	FILE	An information storage place that is ordered and arranged for preservation and reference.
FORM	FORMAT	An assigned name given to a consistent format in which information can be conveyed.
GEDC	GEDCOM	Information about the use of GEDCOM in a transmission.
GIVN	GIVEN_NAME	A given or earned name used for official identification of a person.
GRAD	GRADUATION	An event of awarding educational diplomas or degrees to individuals.
HEAD	HEADER	Identifies information pertaining to an entire GEDCOM transmission.
HUSB	HUSBAND	An individual in the family role of a married man or father. In GEDCOM 7.0 gender is no longer inferred from this tag.
IDNO	IDENT_NUMBER	A number assigned to identify a person within some significant external system.
IMMI	IMMIGRATION	An event of entering into a new locality with the intent of residing there.
INDI	INDIVIDUAL	A person.
INIL	BAPTISM_LDS	GEDCOM 7.0 new tag — replaces the old WAC/BAPL tag for LDS initiatory ordinances.
LANG	LANGUAGE	The name of the language used in a communication or transmission of information.
LEGA	LEGATEE	A role of an individual acting as a person receiving a bequest or legal devise.
MARB	MARRIAGE_BANN	An event of an official public notice given that two people intend to marry.
MARC	MARR_CONTRACT	An event of recording a formal agreement of marriage, including prenuptial agreements.
MARL	MARR_LICENSE	An event of obtaining a legal licence to marry.
MARR	MARRIAGE	A legal, common-law, or customary event of creating a family unit of husband and wife.
MARS	MARR_SETTLEMENT	An event of creating an agreement between two people contemplating marriage about property rights.
MEDI	MEDIA	Identifies information about the media or having to do with the medium in which information is stored.
NAME	NAME	A word or combination of words used to help identify an individual, title, or other item. Multiple NAME lines can be used for people known by multiple names.
NATI	NATIONALITY	The national heritage of an individual.
NATU	NATURALIZATION	The event of obtaining citizenship.
NCHI	CHILDREN_COUNT	The number of children that this person is known to be the parent of (all marriages), or that belong to a family record.
NICK	NICKNAME	A descriptive or familiar name used instead of, or in addition to, one's proper name.
NMR	MARRIAGE_COUNT	The number of times this person has participated in a family as a spouse or parent.
NOTE	NOTE	Additional information provided by the submitter for understanding the enclosing data.
NPFX	NAME_PREFIX	Text which appears on a name line before the given and surname parts. e.g. Lt. Cmndr.
NSFX	NAME_SUFFIX	Text which appears on a name line after the given and surname parts. e.g. Jr., Sr., III.
OBJE	OBJECT	Pertaining to a grouping of attributes used in describing something — usually multimedia such as audio, photographs, or document images.
OCCU	OCCUPATION	The type of work or profession of an individual.
ORDI	ORDINANCE	Pertaining to a religious ordinance in general.
ORDN	ORDINATION	A religious event of receiving authority to act in religious matters.
PAGE	PAGE	A number or description to identify where information can be found in a referenced work.
PEDI	PEDIGREE	Information pertaining to an individual's parent lineage chart.
PHON	PHONE	A unique number assigned to access a specific telephone.
PHRASE	PHRASE	GEDCOM 7.0 new tag — a substructure for date or age phrases that cannot be expressed in standard date format.
PLAC	PLACE	A jurisdictional name to identify the place or location of an event.
POST	POSTAL_CODE	A code used by a postal service to identify an area to facilitate mail handling.
PROB	PROBATE	An event of judicial determination of the validity of a will.
PROP	PROPERTY	Pertaining to possessions such as real estate or other property of interest.
PUBL	PUBLICATION	Refers to when and/or where a work was published or created.
QUAY	QUALITY_OF_DATA	An assessment of the certainty of the evidence to support the conclusion drawn from evidence. Values: 0 (unreliable) to 3 (direct primary evidence).
REFN	REFERENCE	A description or number used to identify an item for filing, storage, or other reference purposes.
RELA	RELATIONSHIP	A relationship value between the indicated contexts.
RELI	RELIGION	A religious denomination to which a person is affiliated or for which a record applies.
REPO	REPOSITORY	An institution or person that has the specified item as part of their collection(s).
RESI	RESIDENCE	The act of dwelling at an address for a period of time.
RESN	RESTRICTION	A processing indicator signifying access to information has been denied or restricted.
RETI	RETIREMENT	An event of exiting an occupational relationship with an employer after a qualifying time period.
RFN	REC_FILE_NUMBER	A permanent number assigned to a record that uniquely identifies it within a known file.
RIN	REC_ID_NUMBER	A number assigned to a record by an originating automated system for cross-referencing.
ROLE	ROLE	A name given to a role played by an individual in connection with an event.
SEX	SEX	Indicates the sex of an individual. In GEDCOM 7.0, explicitly defined as biological sex at birth; other gender concepts are stored as individual attributes.
SLGC	SEALING_CHILD	A religious event pertaining to the sealing of a child to his or her parents in an LDS temple ceremony.
SLGS	SEALING_SPOUSE	A religious event pertaining to the sealing of a husband and wife in an LDS temple ceremony.
SNOTE	SHARED_NOTE	GEDCOM 7.0 new tag — a shared note record that can be referenced by multiple structures. Replaces the dual-use NOTE record from 5.5.1.
SOUR	SOURCE	The initial or original material from which information was obtained.
SPFX	SURN_PREFIX	A name piece used as a non-indexing pre-part of a surname.
SSN	SOC_SEC_NUMBER	A number assigned by the United States Social Security Administration. Used for tax identification purposes.
STAE	STATE	A geographical division of a larger jurisdictional area, such as a State within the United States.
STAT	STATUS	An assessment of the state or condition of something.
SUBM	SUBMITTER	An individual or organisation who contributes genealogical data to a file or transfers it to someone else.
SUBN	SUBMISSION	Pertains to a collection of data issued for processing.
SURN	SURNAME	A family name passed on or used by members of a family.
TEMP	TEMPLE	The name or code that represents the name of a temple of the LDS Church.
TEXT	TEXT	The exact wording found in an original source document.
TIME	TIME	A time value in 24-hour clock format, including hours, minutes, and optional seconds, separated by a colon.
TITL	TITLE	A description of a specific writing or other work, or a formal designation used by an individual such as a royal title.
TRLR	TRAILER	At level 0, specifies the end of a GEDCOM transmission.
TYPE	TYPE	A further qualification to the meaning of the associated superior tag. Usually a short one or two word note displayed with the associated data.
VERS	VERSION	Indicates which version of a product, item, or publication is being used or referenced.
WIFE	WIFE	An individual in the role as a mother and/or married woman. In GEDCOM 7.0, gender is no longer inferred from this tag.
WILL	WILL	A legal document by which a person disposes of their estate, to take effect after death. The event date is when the will was signed. (See also PROB)

Program-Defined Tags (underscore prefix)

Program Key

AQ = Ancestral Quest

BKW = Brother's Keeper (Win)

FamHer = Family Heritage

FO = Family Origins

FTM = Family Tree Maker (DOS)

FTW = Family Tree Maker (Win)

Gen = Generations

Leg = Legacy

PAF = Personal Ancestral File

Reunion = Reunion (Mac)

RootsIII = Roots III

RM = RootsMagic

TMG = The Master Genealogist

Tag	Program(s)	Description
_ADPN	BKW6, PAF5	Adopted name
_AKA	AQ3, PAF4, PAF5	Also known as
_AKAN	BKW6, PAF5	Also known as (alternate)
_BIRN	BKW6, PAF5	Birth name
_BRTM	BKW6	Brit Mila (circumcision on the eighth day after birth of a Jewish boy)
_CENN	BKW6	Census name
_COML	BKW6	Common law marriage
_CONF_FLAG	PAF5	Confidential flag
_CURN	BKW6, PAF5	Currently known as
_DATE2	AQ3	Second date in a date range
_EMAIL	BKW6, FO9, PAF	Email address of the individual
_EYEC	BKW6	Eye colour
_FARN	BKW6, PAF5	Farm name
_FNRL	BKW6	Funeral
_FREL	FTW	Relationship to father
_HAIR	BKW6	Hair colour
_HEBN	BKW6	Hebrew name
_HEIG	BKW6	Height
_INTE	BKW6	Interred — where ashes are stored if cremated, or body placed in a tomb
_MARN	BKW6	Married name
_MARNM	AQ3, PAF5	Married name (alternate)
_MBON	BKW6	Marriage bond
_MEND	FTW	Marriage ending status
_MILT	FTM7	Military services
_MISN	FTM	Mission
_MREL	FTW	Relationship to mother
_MSTAT	FTW	Marriage beginning status
_NLIV	BKW6	Not living
_NMAR	BKW6	Never married (person)
_OTHN	BKW6	Other name
_PRIM	AQ3, PAF5, FO7	Indicates preferred/primary image or photo
_QUAY	Various	Quality of data assessment
_RELN	BKW6	Religious name
_SCBK	AQ3, FO7, PAF5	Indicates if the multimedia object should appear in the scrapbook
_SEPR	BKW6, FTM, FTW	Separated
_SLDN	BKW6	Soldier name
_SUBQ	RM	Subsequent source citation format
_TODO	FO7	To-do item
_UID	PAF5	Special individual ID code inserted for later file comparisons
_WEIG	BKW6	Weight
_YART	BKW6	Yartzeit (Jewish anniversary of death)

Non-Standard Tags (without underscore)

These tags are used by various programs but are not defined in the GEDCOM 5.5 standard. They should begin with an underscore but many do not. Other programs may or may not recognise them.

Tag	Program(s)	Description
AKA	FO, FTM, Leg, PAF	Also Known As
ATTR	FTW5, TMG	Attribute
CEME	FTW5	Cemetery
CITN	Reunion, Gen	Citizenship
CLAW	Reunion	Common law marriage
CLER	Reunion, Gen	Clergy
COLO	FTW5, Gen, Reunion	Skin colour
CRIM	TMG	Criminal record
DEGR	Reunion	Degree
EMAL	Gen	Email address
EXCO	FO, Gen, TMG	Excommunicated
EYES	Reunion	Eye colour
FAX	Gen, RM	Fax phone number
HAIR	Gen, Reunion	Hair colour
HEAL	Reunion	Medical record
HEIG	Gen, Reunion	Height
HIST	Reunion	Research notes
HOBB	Gen, Reunion	Hobbies
HONO	Gen, Reunion	Honours
ILLN	Gen	Illness
MILA	Gen	Military award
MILF	Reunion, Gen	Served in military
MILI	Reunion	Military service
MISC	FTW5, Gen	Miscellaneous
NAMR	FTW5, Gen, Reunion	Religious name
NAMS	FO, TMG, Reunion	Name sake
NMAR	FTW5	Number of marriages
PPFX	RM	Place prefix for event definition
PURC	Reunion, Gen	Land purchase
RACE	FTW, Gen, Reunion	Race
REGI	Reunion, Gen	Register
SENT	RM	Sentence for event definition
SEPA	Reunion, Gen	Separation
STIL	FTW5, TMG	Stillborn
UMAR	Reunion	Unmarried
URL	Reunion	Website URL
VOL	Reunion, Gen	Volume
WEIG	Gen, Reunion	Weight
WWW	RM	Internet address

Sources: Standard tags are from the GEDCOM 5.5 specification. GEDCOM 7.0 additions and deprecations from gedcom.io/specs. Program-defined tags compiled from multiple sources including Legacy Family Tree documentation. · If you have corrections or additions please contact the webmanager.