In its original form,<unk>  was mainly concerned with the kinship and descent of rulers and nobles, often arguing or demonstrating the legitimacy of claims to wealth and power. The term often overlapped with heraldry, in which the ancestry of royalty was reflected in their coats of arms. Many claimed ancestries have been considered fabrications by modern scholars. An example of this puffery would be the Anglo-Saxon chroniclers who traced the ancestry of several English kings back to the god Woden, the English version of the Norse god Odin. This mythological origin of English kings is related in a number of derivative sources, such as The Scyldings, wherein the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is cited as a primary source. The following passage appears in the entry for A.D. 449: "Their leaders were two brothers, Hengest and Horsa; who were the sons of Wihtgils; Wihtgils was the son of Witta, Witta of Wecta, Wecta of Woden. From this Woden arose all our royal kindred, and that of the Southumbrians also." In this context "royal kindred" refers to English kings. If these descents were true, Queen Elizabeth II would be a descendant of Woden, via the kings of Wessex.
In modern times,<unk>  became more widespread, with commoners as well as nobility researching and maintaining their family trees.<unk>  received a boost in the late 1970s with the premiere of the television adaptation of Alex Haley's fictionalized account of his family line, Roots: The Saga of an American Family, leading to<unk>  becoming popular hobby. With the advent of the Internet, the number of resources available to<unk> sts has vastly increased, resulting in an explosion of interest in the topic. According to some sources,<unk>  is one of the most popular topics on the Internet.<unk> sts who are hobbyists typically pursue their own ancestry.  Professional<unk> sts may conduct research for others, publish books on<unk> cal methods, teach, or work for companies that provide online databases. Both also try to understand not just where and when people lived, but also their lifestyles, biographies, and motivations. This often requires — or leads to — knowledge of antiquated laws, old political boundaries, migration trends, and historical social conditions.<unk> sts and family historians often join family history societies where novices can learn from more experienced researchers, indexing projects make records more accessible, and efforts to preserve historical records may be undertaken.  The Internet has also become a major source of data, education, and communication for<unk> sts.<unk> sts sometimes specialize in a particular group, e.g. a Scottish clan; a particular surname, such as in a one-name study; a small community, e.g. a single village or parish, such as in a one-place study; or a particular, often famous, person.
Genealogy
Genetic marker
Pharmacogenetics
Medical genetics
Intentionality
Chronobiology
Karyotype
VACTERL association