Can someone please explain about 2nd cousins twice removed etc?

Question

I met loads of my cousins the other day and they were saying how they were 2nd cousins twice removed and third removed and I just wondered what this meant and how they got to this twice removed business. Can someone help please?!

Answer 1

this site has a chart that explains everything! hope this helps!

Answer 2

The "2nd" in this case refers to the number of generations up you have to go to have a mutual relative. The removed number is the number of generations out you are from these cousins. i.e. your first cousins are your parents siblings children. They are the same generation as you and you only need to go up to your grandparents to get a mutual relative. They are therefore technically 1st cousins, not removed.



Then, for example, your grandmother's sister's grandchild would be a second cousin not removed. Up an extra generation to great grandparent and still the same number of generations down.



However, your grandmother's sister's great grandchild would be a second cousin once removed as they again have a mutual great grandparent but they are a generation below you.



Hope that makes sense!!

Answer 3

It is simple, your cousin is the son or daughter of an uncle or aunt. So if your mother's or father's sister or brother has a son or a daughter then they would be your cousin, first cousin that is. Got it? Good, because nothing comes easy in Genealogy.



There are actually four types of first cousins according to anthropologists. A cousin on the father's side is patrilateral while those on the mother's side are matrilateral. Then of course the children of your mother's sister or your father's brother are ortho-cousins (parallel cousins) or the children of your mother's brother or father's sister are cross-cousins. So now you have patrilateral and matrilateral ortho-cousins and patrilateral and matrilateral cross-cousins for your four relationships.



The English word "cousin" covers all four of these relationships and many languages place the ortho-cousins, and the cross-cousins in separate categories. In these such cases ortho-cousins are frequently the same as those denoting brothers and sisters. There is a smaller group of languages that places the ortho-cousins in one category and then distinguishes between patrilateral cross-cousins and matrilateral cross-cousins. Other languages use separate words for each of the four possible kinds of cousins; patrilateral cross-cousins, patrilateral ortho-cousins, matrilateral cross-cousins, matrilateral ortho-cousins.



Although most societies consider marriage between ortho-cousins to be incest there are actually those that consider it to be ideal and those that cross-cousin marriages are preferred or even obligatory.



And don't forget about 1st Removed ...







Relationship Terms

Sometimes, especially when working on your family history, it's handy to know how to describe your family relationships more exactly. The definitions below should help you out.



Cousin (a.k.a "first cousin")



Your first cousins are the people in your family who have two of the same grandparents as you. In other words, they are the children of your aunts and uncles.





Second Cousin



Your second cousins are the people in your family who have the same great-grandparents as you., but not the same grandparents.





Third, Fourth, and Fifth Cousins



Your third cousins have the same great-great-grandparents, fourth cousins have the same great-great-great-grandparents, and so on.





Removed



When the word "removed" is used to describe a relationship, it indicates that the two people are from different generations. You and your first cousins are in the same generation (two generations younger than your grandparents), so the word "removed" is not used to describe your relationship.





The words "once removed" mean that there is a difference of one generation. For example, your mother's first cousin is your first cousin, once removed. This is because your mother's first cousin is one generation younger than your grandparents and you are two generations younger than your grandparents. This one-generation difference equals "once removed."





Twice removed means that there is a two-generation difference. You are two generations younger than a first cousin of your grandmother, so you and your grandmother's first cousin are first cousins, twice removed.

Answer 4

An apology, before we go into cousins. About half the time I try to explain something I go into so much detail I bore people, and the other half I leave out so much detail I confuse them. Once in a while I manage to be boring and confusing at the same time. This page assumes you don't know anything about cousins, so it will probably tell you some things you already know.

Answer 5

If your parent has a first cousin, you are that person's first cousin once removed and he/she is your first cousin once removed (one generation away, get it?)



If your grandparent has a first cousin, your are that person's first cousin twice removed and he/she is your first cousin twice removed (two generations away, you see?).



And so on and on.



If your parent has a cousin, and that cousin has a child, you and that child are are second cousins (second generation, OK?). If your grandparent has a cousin and that cousin has a grandchild, you and that grandchild are third cousins (third generation).



Just keep in mind, that lots of people would say that their parent's first cousin is a second cousin, or that one's first cousin's child is a second cousin, and so on and on. Technically, that's inaccurate, but it's probably not worth arguing over.



Now, almost nobody actually keeps up with these things much beyond that, but it sounds as if someone in your family does. Let's suppose, one of your second cousins has a child, you are that child's second cousin once removed and he/she is your second cousin once removed. If that second cousin once removed has a child, you are that child's second cousin twice removed, and if that second cousin twice removed has a child (the great-grandchild of your second cousin), that child will be your second cousin thrice removed, etc. etc. etc. (Whew, that gives makes me dizzy just thinking about that family reunion!)



When I was a child, my favorite teacher was one of my mother's first cousins. I thought that, when I grew up, I might like to marry her daughter, who was cute and smart and as shy as I was. I was told that she was my third cousin, so that would be legal and genetically safe. Now, actually she was my second cousin, but by the time we were old enough to date, she had transferred to another school and we never saw each other again until we were both grandparents.



Our children are third cousins, and their children are fourth cousins, but I don't think any of them have any intention of growing up to marry one another, so I think our family is perfectly safe from the genetic problems that have plagued some of the royal families of Europe, in which first and second and third cousins--removed and note--married indiscriminately. I suppose virtually every royal family in Europe (if they can still be identified) has first cousins several generations removed of Queen Victoria's numerous children.



Enjoy your family! No matter how far removed they are on a genealogical chart, it you like them and they like you, you are "close" cousins!

Answer 6

What twice removed is in regards to is that they are the children of a cousin, which makes them "removed". It's just the title given to that difference by people and geneologists (if that's the right term for someone that studies geneology).

Answer 7

Go to www.genealogy.com for explanations. Click on "Learning Center." Click on "Getting Started" under "Geneology How-To." Look for "What is a First Cousin, Twice Removed" under "What's in a Name?"

Answer 8

Siblings (brothers and sisters) who share a set of parents.







First cousins are persons who share a set of grandparents (but aren't siblings).







Second cousins share a set of great-grandparents (but aren't first cousins or siblings).







Third cousins....g-g-grandparents, etc.







"Removed" is used when two persons share a set of ancestors but are not the same number of generations in descent from those ancestors. For example, the children of your first cousin would be your first cousins, once removed (the common ancestors are your grandparents, who are their great-grandparents). Your children and your first cousin's children would be second cousins.



This can go way back. For example, if I were descended from a brother or sister of Julius Caesar, then I would be a great, great,......, great nephew of Julius. If I descend from a first cousin of Julius, I would be Julius's first cousin, many, many times removed.



It seems a bit confusing at first, but once you get it straight, it is not that complicated

Answer 9

a first cousin means you have the same grandparents.

a second cousin means you have the same great grandparents

etcetera.



removed is a little more tricky. if you are second cousins once removed, it can mean either:

a) you are second cousins with their parents

b) or they are second cousins with your parents

ie once removed means one generation apart.



twice removed means two generations apart. So, a 2nd cousin twice removed could mean they are your grandparents second cousin, or that you are second cousins with their grandparents.



hope this helps clear it up!

Answer 10

Draw a family tree. Your parent is once removed from you because they are up one level (hopefully). Your grandparents are twice removed from you because they're up two levels (again, ideally). So your mom's sister is your first cousin once removed. Your mom's sister's child is your first cousin zero removed. So, basically, removal just refers to the vertical distance in a family tree.

Answer 11

From what i can gather a second cousin twice removed is ur parent`s, cousin`s children



but i cannot be a 100% sure

Answer 12

If you share a grandparent, you're first cousins. If you share a great grandparent you're second cousins, and so on.

If you're the same generation, that's it.

If you're a generation apart (say your grandfather is their great grandfather) you're once removed. If you're 2 generations apart, you're twice removed etc.

My second cousin once removed is a famous multimillionaire rock star, but he's not impressed.

Answer 13

They probably don't know themselves. The "removed" refers to how many generations are between you.



Example: Your parents' first cousins are your first cousins once removed. If you have kids, their relationship will be first cousins, twice removed.



The children of your parents' first cousins are your second cousins. To your kids, they're second cousins, once removed.



Hope that helps.



And BTW: Anything beyond first cousins is hittable.

Answer 14

O.K. from parents - children - our antie's kids are first cousins, their kids, are second cousins, and on and on. The removed bit, refers simply to different brances of your blood relations. I am sorry I UNDERSTAND it, but can't explain it well. Good luck - nice to have lots of relatives except at Christmas time!!!!!

Answer 15

Well. they are your second cousins.

They got twice removed because they had too much to drink and made fools of themselves at the party.

Answer 16

I think 2nd cousins twice removed are fair game...



I'd hit it!

Answer 17

Its like your cousin's cousin but not your Actual Cousin Getit!!

Answer 18

Why on earth didn't you just tell them you didn't understand?

You would have been able to join in the conversation instead of just loitering and looking like a fool

Answer 19

COMMON MISCONCEPTION BY MOST AMERICANS----FIRST. cousins are NOT your first cousins childern=as they are your! "first cousins "once removed""====second cousins are the childern of your grandparents BROTHERS,And SISTERS.

Answer 20

The term cousin commonly refers to the child of one's aunt or uncle (i.e. the child of one's parent's sibling), but the relationship between that person and oneself is more precisely termed "first cousin".



"Cousins", more specifically, are any relatives of oneself that are neither one's siblings, nor one's siblings' direct descendants, nor one's direct ancestors, nor one's direct descendants; neither are one's "cousins" any siblings of one's direct ancestors. In common and familiar terms then, never are one's brothers and sisters, nor one's parents nor grandparents; nor one's children or grandchildren; nor one's aunts nor uncles, grand-aunts nor grand-uncles, nephews nor nieces, nor grand-nephews nor grand-nieces of any degree, one's cousin by that relationship.



Generations

Ordinal numbers (first, second, third, etc) are used to quantify in which preceding generation the common direct ancestor of the two specific individuals is located. And because generations determine one's first, second, third, fourth, etc, cousinship, those cousins are always of the same generation as oneself. (Think of a symmetrical pyramid with one's own and one's cousin's generation forming the base, then the larger the ordinal number of the cousinship is, i.e. first, second, third, etc., the higher the pyramid will be, always culminating with the two cousins' ancestor in common at the peak of this pyramid. First cousins form a pyramid with their shared grandparent at the peak, second cousins form a pyramid with their shared great-grandparent at the peak, third cousins form a pyramid with their shared great-great-grandparent at the peak, and so forth.)



Generation often implies age contemporaries, but that is not the definition of a generation. A generation is defined in terms of parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, great-grandparent, great-grandchild and so forth. When there is a difference in generational level between the two individuals for whom the relationship is being defined, then the cousinship term is completed with a number removed, which indicates how many generations separate the two specific individuals in question, i.e. the two individuals for whom one is defining the relationship. First cousins once removed are very often also simply referred to (though incorrectly) as second cousins. Their children are sometimes referred to as third cousins. This vernacular is not technically correct, but very frequently used, and often a source of debate and confusion.

Answer 21

once you're the youngsters of two siblings then you definately are first cousins. the youngsters of your aunts and uncles are your first cousins. your children and the youngsters of your first cousins are 2d cousins. a baby of your first cousin is your first cousin once bumped off. Get it? because it truly is one technology bumped off out of your human being technology. in case your first cousin has a grandchild it is your first cousin two times bumped off. because it truly is two generations from yours. Boy...it isn't person-friendly to make it sound undemanding.

Answer 22

2nd cousin twice removed means - yes you can get it on... ;)

Answer 23

your cousins childs child i think

Answer 24

Full and detailed description here



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephew

Answer 25

that's what count olaf said in the movie lemony snicket