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A unique Family History Index number is allocated for every entry. When entries are submitted about parents, spouses or children, this number can be inserted in the relevant space for that entry and the Family History Index will include the name in all relevant displays of information. The unique numbers permit the Family History Index to link relatives who are also included in the Index.

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The Family History Index number is calculated automatically by the computer system from information submitted in each entry. An example of a Family History Index number is 18160506jamu0001

The first four numbers are the person's year of birth, the next two are the month of birth, and the next two are the day of birth. In the above example, the person was born on  6 May 1816.  The four letters are the first two letters of the person's first name and the first two letters of the person's family name. In the above example, the entry is for a person named Jane Murphy and so the letters are "ja" and "mu".  While not frequent, there may be occasions when more than one person is born on the same date and has the same first letters of her/his names. The last four numbers will usually be "0001" but will be "0002", "0003" etcetera  where duplicate dates of birth and identifying letters occur.

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Where the date of birth is unknown, the Index uses zeros. While Jane Murphy's date of birth is known and could be included in the Index, her father's date of birth is not known.  Laurence Murphy has the Family History Index number 00000000lamu0001. Of course there will quite a quite a few entries in the Index with unknown date of birth and the "0002", "0003" etcetera at the end of Index numbers will be more frequent in these cases.

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The Family History Index number is allocated automatically by the system when you first submit information about your entry. While you can change almost all other information about your entry, you cannot change the Family History Index number once it has been allocated as this could confuse the system unless all entries for the person's spouse and children were also altered. The Family History Index administration can change the Index number if you wish this to happen.  For example, if you do not know a date of birth when you first submit an entry, but later find it out, you can use your password to modify information, including date of birth, in the Index but the original Family History Index number does not change. The system will continue to work satisfactorily with the original Index number, but if you wish to have the number changed to include the now-known date of birth, you may contact the Family History Index administration

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Similarly with names, it may later become known that the original name was not correct e.g. Lizzie should be corrected to Elizabeth, or the person you always knew as great-Uncle Henry was actually named Cyril Henry but was commonly known by his second name. The information in the Index entry for great-Uncle Henry can be corrected at any time by using the password chosen when the entry was first submitted. The system will continue to use the originally allocated Family History Index number which need never change. But it can be changed, on request, by the Index administration.

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If you have any other questions about Family History Index numbers, you are invited to contact the Family History Index administration