Genesis names three sons of Noah who traveled with him on the Ark.
The sons are Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Genesis introduces them before the flood narrative and later describes them leaving the Ark with Noah, their wives, and Noah’s wife. Together with Noah, the three sons form the named male members of the family preserved through the flood.
The number three is easy to confuse with the number of sons’ wives, because Genesis also refers to the wives without naming them individually. The biblical text therefore identifies eight people aboard the Ark when Noah’s family is counted as Noah, his wife, his three sons, and the three sons’ wives.
Later biblical genealogies trace different peoples and nations through Shem, Ham, and Japheth. These genealogies have influenced religious interpretations of the world’s post-flood population, though they are not modern population records.