Cousin

A "cousin" has to be one of the most misunderstood or confusing terms especially when talking about which cousin and how many times removed. Below is a table showing the relationship of various cousins.

An example of the use of this table would be to find myself ("self"), go diagonally up to my great-great-grandparents, and straight down to their child, grandchild, & then great-grandchild. This person is my 2nd cousin, once removed.

				Great-Great-Grandparents
			Great Grandparents	Great-Grand Uncles/Aunts
		Grandparents	Grand Uncles/Aunts	1st Cousin Twice Removed
	Parents	Aunts/Uncles	1st Cousins Once Removed	2nd Cousins Once Removed
Self	Brothers/Sisters	1st Cousins	2nd Cousins	3rd Cousins
Children	Nephews/Nieces	1st Cousins Once Removed	2nd Cousins Once Removed	3rd Cousins Once Removed
Grand Children	Grand Nephews/Nieces	1st Cousins Twice Removed	2nd Cousins Twice Removed	3rd Cousins Twice Removed
Great-Grand Children	Great-Grand Nephews/Nieces	1st Cousins Thrice Removed	2nd Cousins Thrice Removed	3rd Cousins Thrice Removed
2nd Great-Grand Children	2nd Great-Grand Nephews/Nieces	1st Cousins 4x Removed	2nd Cousins 4x Removed	3rd Cousins 4x Removed

To figure out the relationship of a cousin without the table, you need to count the number of generations to the common ancestor for both yourself and the individual in question.

Looking at the two numbers:

• If one of the numbers is zero, then the relationship is one of a direct line relative.
• If one of the numbers is one, then the relationship is one of a sibling or niece/nephew (or aunt/uncle depending which way you are looking at it), etc.
• Otherwise, the smaller of the two numbers will give you the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. cousin after subtracting one.

For example, if I count four generations between myself and the common ancestor AND three generations between the other relative and the same common ancestor, I take the smaller of the two numbers and subtract one giving two, so they are a second cousin with some number removed.

To figure how much removed, I take the larger of the two numbers (3) and subtract the smaller of the two numbers (2) giving 1, so they are once removed.