World Octopus Day · October 8
Bring your family tree to life.
Famtopus™
The Famtopus app is hatching.
Somewhere, your family tree may already exist.
Maybe it started years ago as a printout, an email, or a link someone shared with the family. Maybe it lives behind a login no one remembers. Or maybe you’re ready to begin now.
The stories are waiting to be discovered.
Famtopus helps bring them back to life.
Why an octopus?
Clever, curious, and very good at following many threads.
An octopus can do what a family-tree keeper does: hold many pieces without losing the shape of the whole.
Records, photos, places, stories, names, dates, relationships: Famtopus is being built to connect each piece to the right person, and help you see how everyone fits together.
Try it
What’s your inky surname?
Type your surname and see who you’d be in the octopus family.
Every family has one: an aunt with endless stories, a town with a funny name, a photo no one can caption. Share yours with #Famtopus.
Three octopuses worth knowing
Paul the Octopus
At an aquarium in Germany, Paul picked between two food boxes marked with flags. In 2010 he called all seven of Germany’s World Cup matches, and the final.
Inky the escape artist
Inky slipped out of his tank at New Zealand’s National Aquarium, crossed the floor, and took a 50-meter drain pipe to the sea.
Doris the Octopus
A stop-motion giant Pacific octopus, the star of Octopus!, a two-part documentary narrated by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, with Tracy Morgan among the octopus fans. Premiered May 8, 2025.
Why October 8? Because an octopus has eight arms.