Defining Relationships

Defining Relationships

Relationship Chart

Relationship Chart

The Relationship Calculator NOTE: Doesn't work in Firefox or Google Chrome.

The Cousin Calculator

Cousin Calculator

Kinship - the Right Name for the Distant Cousin

Your first cousin is your parents' brother's or sister's child. However, the first cousin's child is not your second cousin, but your first cousin once removed. The child of the first cousin once removed is your first cousin twice removed, and his child is your first cousin three times removed.

Your second cousin is your grandparents' brother's or sister's grandchild. That second cousin's child is your second cousin once removed, and his child is your second cousin twice removed, and so on.

Your third cousin is your great-grandparents' brother's or sister's great-grandchild. The third cousin's child is your third cousin once removed, and his child is your third cousin twice removed.

Occasionally Misunderstood Terms


Siblings: Parents in common, brothers and sisters

Grandnephew and Grandniece: the grandchild of your brother or sister

Grandaunt or Granduncle: the brother or sister of your grandparent

Great-Grandaunt or Great-Granduncle: the sister or brother of your great-grandparents

Stepfather or Stepmother: the husband of your mother or the wife of your father by a subsequent marriage

Stepchild: the child of your husband or wife by a former marriage

Stepsister or Stepbrother: the child of your stepfather or stepmother

Half Sister or Half Brother: the child of your mother and stepfather or the child of your father and stepmother, or of either parent by a former marriage

In-Laws: your connections by the law of marriage (as distinct from relatives by blood) in particular, your husband's or wife's relatives and your own brother's wife or sister's husband

Ancestor: the person from whom you descend directly, such as a grandparent or a great-grandparent

Descendant: the person who descends directly from you, such as a grandson or granddaughter

Lineal Relations: those in a direct line of ascent or descent, such as a grandfather or granddaughter

Collateral Relations: those relatives who are linked by a common ancestor, such as aunts, uncles, or cousins

Connections: those who have a relative in common but who are not themselves related by blood.


Now the Easy Version

Brothers and Sisters Siblings

Children 1st Cousins

Grandchildren 2nd Cousins

Great grandchildren 3rd Cousins

Gt Gt grandchildren 4th Cousins

Gt Gt Gt grandchildren 5th Cousins

Gt Gt Gt Gt grandchildren 6th Cousins

One generation before or after, is Once Removed

Two generations before/after are Twice Removed etc.

These days most people do not use the term Grand niece or Grand nephew, or Grand Great Niece etc.
The word Grand has been popularly replaced by Great.

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