Posted on September 24, 2022January 22, 2023 by Gail
EVER FOUND YOURSELF ASKING, “SO WHAT EXACTLY IS A SECOND COUSIN?”OR DEBATING WITH YOUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS ABOUT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A “FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED”?
Use this cousin chart from FamilySearch.org to settle the debate once and for all!
What Is a Cousin?
Cousins are people who share a common ancestor that is at least two generations away, such as a grandparent or great-grandparent. You and your siblings are not cousins because your parents are only one generation away from you.
Simple enough, right? But what does it mean to have a second or third or fourth cousin?
What Is a Second Cousin?
The number associated with your cousin has to do with how many generations away your common ancestor is. For example:
- First cousins share a grandparent (2 generations)
- Second cousins share a great-grandparent (3 generations)
- Third cousins share a great-great-grandparent (4 generations)
- Fourth cousins share a 3rd-great grandparent (5 generations)
Quick Tip: Count how many “greats” are in your common ancestor’s title and add 1 to find out what number cousin your relative is. Note that grandparents have no “greats” in their titles, so cousins who share grandparents are first cousins because 0 + 1 = 1. However, keep in mind that this trick only works if you are both the same number of generations removed from the common ancestor.
Sometimes you and your cousin may share a common ancestor, but you each call this ancestor something different. For example, the common ancestor may be your great-grandparent, but your cousin’s great-great grandparent.
This is where the phrase “once removed” comes in handy.
What Does it Mean to be a Cousin “Once Removed”?
To be “once removed” from a cousin means you are separated by one generation. The number before “removed” will always represent the number of generations you are separated (“removed”) from the cousin.
If you look at the cousin chart above, you’ll see that each row is color-coded by generation. You, your siblings, and your first, second,and third cousins are all of the same generation.
You may have noticed that the boxes labeled “cousin once removed” are either from one generation above or below you. You are “once removed” if you are separated by one generation and “twice removed” if you are separated by two generations, and so on.
Quick Tip: Your parent’s first, second, and third cousins are also your first, second, and third cousins—but once removed. This is because your parents and their generation are 1 above yours. Likewise, your grandparents’ first, second, and third cousins are also your first, second, and third cousins, this time twice removed. This pattern continues throughout each generation. So, for example, a first cousin once removed is either the child of your first cousin or the parent of your second cousin.
Now that you know what to call your various cousins, use the chart below:
Download the Cousin Chart PDF: cousin-chart
Download the Cousin Calculator PDF: cousin-calculator-3
Note: These cousin naming-conventions are primarily used in English-speaking societies and may be different in other languages and cultures.
This article was first published on Family Search – here is the link: https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/cousin-chart/
I have learned through this and other site results that the children of my cousins are my cousins once removed. i usually just call them my little cousins. but almost all of them are fully graduated from high school now so they arent so little anymore. but my question is what is my mom to my cousins once removed? she says she is their great aunt, but that is not what i have learned from what that is. so what is my mom to my cousins once removed? i cant find that anywhere?
ReplyHello Becky,
Your mom is great-aunt to your cousins once removed.
When siblings grow up and have children, the sibling’s children are first cousins to each other. So your cousins’ parent should be a sibling to your parent.
Then when the cousins all grow up and have children, those children are all second cousins to each other, and are first cousins once removed from the group of first cousins.
So, the first cousins call their cousins’ parents “Aunt” or “Uncle”.Then the Aunt or Uncle becomes Great-Aunt or -Uncle to the group of second cousins. Some use the term “Grand-Aunt” or “Grand-Uncle”, either works fine.
So, for instance, your grandmother’s sister would be your great aunt.
I hope I’ve explained it well enough, if not, let me know and I’ll try again.
Thank you for reading!
Gail
Reply
This is very good to know but I am sooooo confused. I’ll keep studying to learn better
ReplySo my mother first cousin is Lavern
Then mom has 3 kids and Lavern has 3 kids. Then mom’s kids have kids so does Lavern’s kids have kids so what relations is mom’s kids kids to Lavern’s kids kidsReplyHello Brenda,
Use the chart to count down the generations, starting with your mother and her cousin Lavern.
Mother/Lavern are first cousins (assumption, since you didn’t actually say)
M-Kids1/L-Kids1 are second cousins
M-Kids2/L-Kids2 are third cousinsHope this helps!
GailReply