In genealogy

Genealogy

Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...

, a top ancestor is the oldest ancestor

Ancestor

An ancestor is a parent or the parent of an ancestor ....

 in a continuous sequence of ancestors. This means, that a continuous line of parent-child connections exists between the top ancestor and the subject of the genealogical study, such as a living person. However, the top ancestor's parents are not (or not yet) known.

Top ancestors are sometimes used to describe the status of a genealogical research project, or in order to compare the availability of genealogical data in different times and places. Often, top ancestors are implied to be patrilineal

Patrilineality

Patrilineality is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritance of property, names or titles through the male line as well....

. If a patrilineal dynasty

Dynasty

A dynasty is a sequence of rulers considered members of the same family. Historians traditionally consider many sovereign states' history within a framework of successive dynasties, e.g., China, Ancient Egypt and the Persian Empire...

 is considered, each such dynasty has exactly one top ancestor.

Examples of patrilineal top ancestors

subject	dynasty	top ancestor	date of top ancestor's death
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...	Wettin	Dietrich I of Wettin	10th century
Charles, Prince of Wales Charles, Prince of Wales Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...	Oldenburg House of Oldenburg The House of Oldenburg is a North German dynasty and one of Europe's most influential Royal Houses with branches that rule or have ruled in Denmark, Russia, Greece, Norway, Schleswig, Holstein, Oldenburg and Sweden...	Elimar I, Count of Oldenburg Elimar I, Count of Oldenburg Elimar I, also known as Egilmar I, was the first Count of Oldenburg. He reigned from 1101 to 1108.According to some sources, Elimar was the son of Elsa of Brabant and Helyas of Lorraine, identified as the Swan Knight of legend...	12th century
Charlemagne Charlemagne Charlemagne was King of the Franks from 768 and Emperor of the Romans from 800 to his death in 814. He expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800...	Carolingian	Bishop Arnulf of Metz Arnulf of Metz Saint Arnulf of Metz was a Frankish bishop of Metz and advisor to the Merovingian court of Austrasia, who retired to the Abbey of Remiremont....	640
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom Victoria of the United Kingdom Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....	Este	Otbert I, Count Palatine of Italy	975