Cousins

[DrFaroohk]

Probably wrong forum, but what the hell. What does the whole cousins system mean? I know first cousins are the children of siblings, but after that? Second, third, twice removed, etc...?

[guywithashovel]

I know that it's possible to have double cousins.

Let's say there were two sisters, Lisa and Sue. They both meet two guys who are brothers, John and Mark. Lisa and Mark get married, and Sue marries John. Lisa and Mark have a daughter named Anna. Sue and John have a son named Alex. Anna and Alex would be double cousins.

[Lachrymose]

It's kind of tough to grasp this at first. It was especially difficult because my family got the system all wrong.

Your first, second, third, etc. cousins are denoted by a common ancestor.

First cousin: someone who shares the same grandparents as you (but is not your sibling)

Second cousin: someone who shares the same great-grandparents as you (but is not your sibling or first cousin)

Etc.


Now, for the "removed" part, this denotes the generation gap.

Your first cousin's child is your first cousin once removed. The child of your first cousin once removed is your first cousin twice removed.

Same goes for second, third, etc.

It gets a little more complicated when moving up in generations rather than down, though. For example, the parent of your first cousin is obviously your aunt or uncle, but the parent of your second cousin is your first cousin once removed.

Another way to think of it is if there is no "removed", then that cousin is in the same generation you are.

Clear as mud?

Here's a good chart:

http://cousincountry.com/home/180004...nippet%202.jpg

ETA: maybe this one is a bit easier to understand: http://ekfamily.net/wordpress/wp-con...sins_chart.jpg

[Andara Bledin]

Here's something fun to think about:

My mother has a first cousin once removed that was born the same day she was.

^-.-^

[DrFaroohk]

That's nothing. I knew two guys in high school, uncle and nephew relation, and the nephew was older than the uncle. Welcome to Maine!

[HYHYBT]

Maine? I thought that was West Virginia

"Many, many years ago, when I was twenty-three,
I was married to a widow, who was pretty as can be.
This widow had a grown-up daughter who had hair of red.
My father fell in love with her, and soon they, too were wed.

This made my dad my son-in-law, which really changed my life.
Now my daughter was my mother, for she was my father's wife..."

(Oh, you know the rest...)

[Kaylyn]

I'm my own aunt.

Not as creepy as it sounds. I was legally adopted by my grandparents. So the lady I've known as my sister for my whole life is actually my biological mother.

[Andara Bledin]

That's about the situation Jack Nicholson grew up with.

^-.-^

[telecom_goddess]

That's nothing. I knew two guys in high school, uncle and nephew relation, and the nephew was older than the uncle. Welcome to Maine!

All my nieces and nephews are older than me except for 1. Welcome to California I"m great great aunt.

[Nyoibo]

I'm my own aunt.

Not as creepy as it sounds. I was legally adopted by my grandparents. So the lady I've known as my sister for my whole life is actually my biological mother.

That's actually not that uncommon it seems, I know several people in that situation.


About the wierdest I have is that my sister is young enough to be my daughter.

[HYHYBT]

I'm my own aunt.

Not as creepy as it sounds. I was legally adopted by my grandparents. So the lady I've known as my sister for my whole life is actually my biological mother.

Dad has an uncle/cousin in the same situation. Grandma's sister had a baby out of wedlock back when that was unspeakable; her parents adopted it and it wasn't spoken of again, best I can tell, until the kid was well into adulthood.

[DrFaroohk]

Yeah those charts are hard...I'm a little slow sometimes and I need more tangible examples. Plus for some reason it's confusing to me to think of it in terms of the shared grandparents.

Stay with me here for a second...

Jack and Jon are bros. They each have wives and have their own kids - Jack Jr. and Jon Jr.

Jack Jr. and Jon Jr. are first cousins, right?

Now, Jack Jr. and Jon Jr. each have their own kids. Jack III and Jon III.

Are those kids second cousins to each other? And what is the relationship between Jack Jr. and Jon III? Would that be like second cousins once removed?

[Andara Bledin]

The chart on Wikipedia under the entry Cousin is about as plain as it could possibly be.

There is a box that represents the main individual, and then it lists their relatives and relationships up and down three generations. If you can place your relatives in a family tree, then you can determine by this chart what the relationship is.

And, in answer to your questions: Yes, Yes, and Yes.

One way to think of it is that the number designates how many generations you have to go back to find a common ancestor minus 1, and the removal is how many generations difference there would be if you plotted from that common ancestor to the place in the family tree where you both respectively reside.

^-.-^

[senor boogie woogie]

That's actually not that uncommon it seems, I know several people in that situation.


About the wierdest I have is that my sister is young enough to be my daughter.

Jack Nicholson went through this EXACT situation, also a late friend of my mother. People did that back in the black and white days because having a child "out of wedlock" was a great shame with the unmarried daughter seen as less than pure, and they come up with this arrangement.

[Kaylyn]

Ah! I seem to remember reading about Jack Nicholson on Snopes, now that I think about it.

The reason it happened in my case was my mother and father divorced, and my mother didn't handle it well and began to neglect me. So my grandparents and her came to an agreement that they would legally adopt me. In the process they changed my name to the nickname they'd been using for me, which I HAAATE: it's the same as Suzanne Somers's character from Three's Company except spelled differently.