| Ancestor: | Any person from whom another person is directly descended, for example, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and so on. |
| Ancestry: | The group of people from whom a person is descended. |
| Birth: | The moment a person is born. |
| Border entry: | The location on land where new immigrants first enter a country. |
| Characteristics: | Features that distinguish people or places from others. |
| Country of origin: | The country in which a person is born. |
| Cultural mosaic: | A country like Canada wherein many different cultures thrive and preserve their distinguishing characteristics. |
| Cultural diversity: | A country or region inhabited by people from many different ethnic backgrounds. |
| Culture: | The arts, beliefs, habits, institutions and other human endeavours considered together as being characteristic of a particular community, people or nation. |
| Death: | The moment a person dies. |
| Debarkation: | Departure from a vessel or aircraft. |
| Descendants: | A person's children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren and so on. |
| Embarkation: | Boarding a vessel or aircraft or setting out on a journey. |
| Emigration: | Leaving one country to live in another. |
| Family events: | Events that are meaningful or significant to a specific family. |
| Family history: | The reconstruction of the daily lives of a person's ancestors based on information gathered and the writing of their biographies. |
| Family tree: | A chart that shows how people in a family are related to each other. |
| Genealogist: | A person who specializes in studying the history of a family. |
| Genealogy: | The study of a person's ancestors and the collection of information (names, dates) about that family. |
| Generation: | People born about the same time and related to a person at the same level (parents, grandparents, great-grandparents). A period of approximately 30 years separates each generation. |
| Given name: | The name parents give their child at birth. |
| Heraldic symbols: | Official symbols granted to a family (coats of arms, blazons, etc.). |
| Hereditary: | Physical or psychological traits passed on to children by their parents. |
| Immigration: | A person's entry into a new country to settle there. |
| Maiden name: | A woman's family name before marriage. Some women keep their maiden names after marriage, while others take their husband's surname. |
| Marriage: | The legal union of two people who have chosen to spend their lives together. |
| Maternal ancestor: | An ancestor on the mother's side of the family. |
| Migration: | Movement from one place to another. |
| Multicultural: | A number of distinct cultural groups living within a country or region. |
| Paternal ancestor: | An ancestor on the father's side of the family. |
| Point of entry: | The first place (border entry or port) immigrants arrive when entering a country. |
| Port: | A city or town having a harbour where ships or boats take on or unload cargo or passengers. |
| Pull factors: | Reasons people choose a new country or location in which to live. |
| Push factors: | Reasons people leave their country or home to move to another. |
| Quarantine: | The isolation and restriction placed on the movement of people or animals to prevent the spreading of a dangerous or contagious disease. |
| Relative: | A person connected to a family by birth or marriage. |
| Sibling: | A person's brother or sister. |
| Spouse: | A husband or wife. |
| Surname: | A person's family name or last name. |
| Systematically: | How something is done following step-by-step procedures. |
| Timeline: | A table outlining the schedule of events for successive years within a particular historical period. |
| Wedding: | The celebration of the union of two people in marriage. |
