Cousins

I took this right off the website http://www.obliquity.com/family/misc/cousin.html. The question came up about how my children are related to their mom’s cousin. (First cousin, once removed, I say.) But don’t take my word for it. I Googled “explain cousins” and this. Total randomness and, potentially, hours of fun. Entertaining, useful, and timely–the best that blogging has to offer.

Cousins Explained

Have you ever gotten your first cousins twice removed confused with
your second cousins once removed? Well, you’re not the only one.
This chart attempts to explain the relationships that exist between
cousins. It may be extended in either direction for as many generations
as is necessary.

parents	child	g-child	gg-child	ggg-child	gggg-child
child	brother/ sister	nephew/ niece	g-nephew/ g-niece	gg-nephew/ gg-niece	ggg-nephew/ ggg-niece
g-child	uncle/ aunt	first cousin	first cousin once removed	first cousin twice removed	first cousin thrice removed
gg-child	g-uncle/ g-aunt	first cousin once removed	second cousin	second cousin once removed	second cousin twice removed
ggg-child	gg-uncle/ gg-aunt	first cousin twice removed	second cousin once removed	third cousin	third cousin once removed
gggg-child	ggg-uncle/ ggg-aunt	first cousin thrice removed	second cousin twice removed	third cousin once removed	fourth cousin

The parents represent the common ancestors you have with your
relative. Count across the top row until you reach your generation.
Now count down this column until you reach your relative’s generation.
This gives you your relationship to your
relative. If you have only one common ancestor with your relative
(perhaps this ancestor had multiple marriages), then the same chart applies
but the relationships are half blood instead of full blood.
In general, the person in the first row is the ***** of the person in
the first column where ***** stands for the appropriate table entry, eg.
sister, uncle, second cousin, etc.

Example

Suppose I want to find out my relationship to the son of my grandmother’s
brother. Then the common ancestors that we share are my great-grandparents
which are his grandparents. (I am assuming a full blood relationship).
Therefore, reading from the chart we find that

parents	child	g-child	ME
child	brother/ sister	nephew/ niece	g-nephew/ g-niece
RELATIVE	uncle/ aunt	first cousin	FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED

I am the first cousin once removed of this relative!