How does cousin lineage work

For example, your second cousin is a person you share great-grandparents with and is not your direct sibling. It's easier to think of what your shared ancestors would call you both - if your closest shared direct ancestor is your great-great-grandparents, and they call you both "great-great-grandchildren," then you have no removal, you are third cousins.

When the cousins are not in the same generation then they are "removed. For example, if your first cousin has children, they are your first cousins once removed. The closest common ancestor shared are your grandparents but are "once removed" from the level of first cousin held by their parents.

This Table of Consanguinity shows the degrees of relationships between you and distant branches of your family tree. Here is where it can get confusing. There are two instances in your family tree that can be considered 'once removed'. This is a reflection of what cousins refer to each other as. Up until now, each relationship in your family tree has inverse titles for each other. You are your aunt's niece or nephew; you are your great-grandparents' great-grandchild.

However, cousins refer to each other as cousins. Because of this, your first cousin's child is your first cousin once removed and you the parent of their second cousin are also their first cousin once removed - so you each refer to each other in the same way.

This means that the child of your first cousin and the parents of your second cousin are both "first cousins once removed", despite each of them being generations apart. Yes, it's tricky to wrap your head around. Here is a breakdown to make things simpler to understand. Family reunions are often filled with confused people scratching their heads, ticking off fingers and mumbling, "If my mother's aunt was her father's grandmother, then that makes us…". If you can't keep your third cousins and your first cousins twice removed straight, you are not alone.

But there's a simple way to figure out the relationships between relations. First cousins share a grandparent, second cousins share a great-grandparent, third cousins share a great-great-grandparent, and so on.

The degree of cousinhood "first," "second," etc. Related: Why do people have different personalities? Genealogy Research. Heritage and History. News and Events. Personal History. What Is a Cousin? Simple enough, right? But what does it mean to have a second or third or fourth cousin? Download Cousin Calculator Chart. Research Tips. About the Author.