Cousin Chart—Family Relationships Explained • • FamilySearch Blog

vbano

I explain cousins more mathematically with fewer words:

Count the number of individuals between yourself and your common ancestors. Call this N1 and N2 for you and your possible cousin.

Then the minimum of N1 and N2 is your cousin number, the difference between N1 and N2 is the removed number.

Sheilawilson11

Thank you for posting. This is an awesome tool. I could not quite get the concept of cousin twice removed etc.

LynneSucher

THANK YOU! Finally someone explained it.

RebeccaWakape

We explain cousins differently first cousins are those related to your father. Second cousins are those related to your mother.

Charles Leroy Bennett

Awesome job! ☺️

LilianeWhite

Fabulous job!

Thank you

B. Joy Watkins - surname Black

THANK YOU! IT IS SOMETIMES CONFUSING WHEN TRYING TO EXPLAIN TO OTHER PEOPLE. GREAT HELP!

CarolMoran3

Your diagram is so simple to understand. Thank you for explaining something that I had difficulty understanding.

AlanJL

Finally, an understandable way to grasp the concept of "once-removed" cousins. It has always been exceedingly difficult for me to understand. Your article and diagram put this all-in perspective. Thank you, thank you, thank you! 😊

WalkerJuanita

This is going to be so nice to see how it works for the family tree now. Thank you for sharing this with all of us. Will help make understanding the tree a lot easier now.

Edwin M. Hopkins

Very likely, the biggest reason why people find extended family relationship terminology confusing lies with the illogic of giving generationally junior and generationally senior relatives among the "removed cousins" the same term. Anyone is bound the feel some confusion when this little child distant relative, known the be generationally junior, and this older adult distant relative, known the be generationally senior, both get labelled as "Second Cousin, twice removed."

T Bruce Woodrum

Thank you for this info. I recently was contacted by my grandmother’s 3xgreat-granddaughter and it was nice to see our relationship.

howardcoons1

"And if they ever come back, they'll be 'twice removed!'" 😜😉

NancyTurner7

Thanks for posting this! It will come in very handy for me.

joy stafford

Thank you, thank you!! God bless you.

Bob A Ruby

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/469363#Comment_469363

I think you just confused me again with this :(

Annbeans

Thank you for explaining this as it will be a huge help for me and my family.

D'VonneOehlke

Thank you for sharing, this definitely helps to understand how your extended family is related. It get confusing sometimes, and this will be a great reference!

Myoung16

Thank you for this information but it's a little confusing

susanmoore19

Thank you for the information.

Caryl Denise

Thank you!!!!

Edwin M. Hopkins

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/469603#Comment_469603

Right you are Myoung16, since, when it comes to "cousins removed," the terminology does not permit the important distinction between your relatives who are generationally junior to you and those who are generationally senior to you.

JamesTibbel

Thank you for these charts.

patinnes

Yay! "Grandaunt/uncle" "Grandniece/nephew"

The siblings of your Grandparents cannot be "Great" anything...seems folks have put the emphasis on the wrong part in dropping the "Grand" (after your parents they're ALL "Grands"; they aren't all "Greats").

Grady Lamberth

Nice . Thank you.

Brett570

Hi Jessica, thanks very much for the charts. I have a fair grasp of how the relationships work, but the charts are clear and will help me explain it to others without drawing back-of-the-envelope charts.

I agree with Edwin and others about the logic, or lack, of using the same terms for previous and subsequent generations, although the context of the relationship usually (but not always) avoids confusion. As a rough rule of thumb, I sometimes distinguish between generations with a minus sign for previous generations and a plus sign for subsequent ones. Cheers, Brett.

davidgreenfield4

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this . Really helpful.

Elder Johnson B

Thanx for the learning aids that you have made to help us understand when FamilySearch tells me my relationships to cousins🤩😍

Charles E.Armstrong

thank you.

SLaura19

Thanks for this. Very helpful in understanding all those connections within a family.

Very much appreciated