What Does a Cousin, Once Removed Mean?
83Everyone is familiar with typical terms to describe family relations, like grandmother, aunt and nephew. It's easy to visualize these relations when compared to yourself. But when it comes to cousins, things can get complicated. What the heck is a fourth cousin, once removed? Or a second cousin, twice removed?
I'll use "third cousin, once removed" to explain. There are really 2 parts to these designations: "third" and "once removed". Each part tells you something different about your relative.
First, the "third". This refers to how many generations between you and the common ancestor that you share with this cousin (minus 1, because people with the same parents are not considered cousins at all). So for my example here, a third cousin has the same great-great grandparents as you do. First cousins have the same grandparents as you do.
Second, the "once removed". The previous bit talked about how far back the relationship connection is, whereas the "removed" tells you the generational difference between you and your cousin. In other words, "once removed" means that your cousin is one generation away from you. Cousins of the same generation as yourself are not described with a "removed" note.
So for our example, a third cousin, once removed, would be someone who shares your great-great grandparents and is one generation away from you (in other words, from your parent's generation).
As your family tree grows, you will find you have cousins on quite a grand scale, like 15th cousins, 4 times removed and so one. Most family tree software programs will assign these designations to relatives automatically, so don't worry if you can't get it straight right away.
I have more articles about genealogy on my personal website, Learn Genealogy.
This article was first published at Suite101.com and was written originally by Darlene Vaillancourt who has given permission for reposting. She's my mom.
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In other words, your mother's first cousin is your second cousin once removed. Your father's second cousin is your third cousin once removed. It took me awhile to figure this out too. I did a genealogy once, and it came up when I would meet someone who was related.
I've always wondered if I was using that correctly. I'm glad to find out I was! Nice article, well written. Thanks for sharing it!
Great information. This has always been somewhat confusing.
I'm still a little confused, so my first cousin, is what to my children, first cousin once removed?
so then what if you are referring to a cousin who is a generation younger than you?? What are they called?
To Janifox: That's correct.
To Emma: It's like an absolute value: What's true of one generation up is true of one generation down. For instance, my first cousin's child would be my first cousin, once removed. And I would be her first cousin, once removed. The first, second, third...fifteenth cousins, are the zero line. Everything a generation up or a generation down from there is the same when referring to each other.
My cousins child is only 10 years younger then me (Im 13 and shes 3). Does that still mean shes my first cousin once removed? or does itchange when ur that close of ages?
Rachel: No, the relationships don't change, no matter how close in age you are. My daughter (2) is closer in age to her aunt (my husband's half-sister - 16) than she is to her cousins (my husband's brother's son and daughter - 21 and 23), but they are what they are. And my husband's niece has 2 children (6 and a few months old). They're still my daughter's first cousins once removed - not just first cousins.
Incidentally, during my research, I discovered that my husband and I are actually 8th cousins once removed. And my parents are 7th cousins once removed. I hope that doesn't count as incest!
Your first cousin's children are your nephews and nieces right?
My mother's second cousin's son, is he my 4th cousin??? like does it go like this my mother's second cousin would be my 3rd, then his son would be my 4th???????
dafla, Your parents first cousins would be your first cousins once removed. The reason being that they are one generation from you and their grandparents are your great grandparents. It's the same reason that makes your first cousins children your first cousin once removed. Your grandparents are their great grandparents.
houston, your first cousin's children are your first cousins once removed. Nephews and nieces are children of your siblings.
tarvan, your mother's second cousin's son would be your third cousin because you both share the same great great grandparents. Your mother's second cousin would be your second cousin once removed because your great great grandparents would be their great grandparents. Which means that there is a one generation difference.
Thanks very very helpful...just saw this on my sons fav. Movie...lol
Excellent hub.
my mother has a cousin namend david first cousin that is his mother and my mothers daddy are brother sister so they share the same gandparents ok now since i am one generation away from mother and david then the relationship changes by one generation in other words i cant share davids grandparents with him and he cant share my great grandparents me because his grandparents and my great grand parents are the same people so as you can see there a generation gap so david is my first cousin once removed ok now with his daughter ashley she is my second cousin her grand mother reba is my grandfathers sister my grandfather mother and fater and her grandmothers mother and father are the great grandparents
Guru-C 4 years ago
Terri, I've always wanted to find a clear explanation of this, and now I have. Thank you! Very informative.