When I was 16, I got my first summer job working in a cafeteria at Brigham Young University. The next summer, I went back to same job but found that everyone was constantly confusing me with one of the new employees, claiming we looked alike. After eyeing each other carefully at first, we quickly become good friends. As we got to know each other, we soon discovered that in addition to looking alike, we were actually related. My third great grandfather was her fourth great grandfather. But we were confused, how should we describe our relationship?
You may have heard some people use phrases like “she’s my fifth cousins, twice removed,” or “he’s my second cousin, nine times removed.” What does this mean and how could I figure out my relationship to my friend using these terms?
In English, there are specific terms to describe the relationships between people of the same generation, meaning people who are the same number of generations from a common ancestor.
- Siblings share a common parent
- Cousins share a common grandparent
- Second cousins share a common great grandparent
- Third cousins share a common second great grandparent
- Fourth cousins share a common third great grandparent
- Fifth cousins share a common fourth great grandparent
| Common Ancestor | Relationship |
| 5th great grandparents | 6th cousins |
| 4th great grandparents | 5th cousins |
| 3rd great grandparents | 4th cousins |
| 2nd great grandparents | 3rd cousins |
| great grandparents | 2nd cousins |
| grandparents | cousins |
| parents | siblings |
What happens when you share a common ancestor but are not in the same generation? You define your relationship by determining the total number of generations that you are removed from your cousin and then combine it with your cousin relationship. Sound confusing? Let’s see it in action.
Henry and Charlotte share a common ancestor, Eleanor. Eleanor is Charlotte’s 6th great grandmother (or great great great great great great grandmother) and is Henry’s 2nd great grandmother. How are they related? Let’s look at in the form of a table.
| Eleanor | Relationship |
| 5th great grandparent | great grandparent | Siblings |
| 4th great grandparent | grandparent | 1st cousins |
| 3rd great grandparent | parent | 2nd cousins |
| 2nd great grandparent | Henry | 3rd cousins |
| great grandparent | children | 4th cousins |
| grandparent | grandchildren | 5th cousins |
| parent | great grandchildren | 6th cousins |
| Charlotte | 2nd great grandchildren | 7th cousins |
To put it a different way:
- Charlotte’s 6th great grandmother is Henry’s 2nd great grandmother
- Charlotte’s 5th great grandparent is the sibling of Henry’s great grandparent
- Charlotte’s 4th great grandparent is the cousin of Henry’s grandparent
- Charlotte’s 3rd great grandparent is the 2nd cousin of Henry’s parent
- Charlotte’s 2nd great grandparent is Henry’s 3rd cousin
- Charlotte’s great grandparent is the 4th cousin of Henry’s children
- Charlotte’s grandparent is the 5th cousin of Henry’s grandchildren
- Charlotte’s parent is the 6th cousin of Henry’s great grandchildren
- Charlotte is the 7th cousin of Henry’s 2nd great grandchildren
Now that we see it visually, we can quickly determine the relationship between Henry and Charlotte. First, figure out the cousin relationship between Henry and Charlotte’s ancestor of the same generation. In this case Henry is the 3rd cousin of Charlotte’s 2nd great grandmother. Next, count the number of generations between Charlotte and her 2nd great grandmother (or between Charlotte and Henry) which is four. This is the number of generations one cousin is removed from the other cousin. Finally, combine the two numbers. This means that Henry and Charlotte are third cousins four times removed.
Try it on your own.
- William and Catherine are related through a common ancestor, Stewart. Stewart is Catherine’s 3rd great grandfather. Stewart is also William’s 8th great grandfather. How are William and Catherine related?
- Myrtle is also related to Stewart. She is Stewart’s 5th great granddaughter. How are Myrtle and William related? How are Myrtle and Catherine related?
- John is also related but through Stewart’s grandfather, James. How is John related to Stewart, William, Catherine, Myrtle?
- Try it with someone in your own family.
Remember my work friend who everyone though I looked like? She and I sat down, diagrammed our ancestors, and came to the conclusion that we were fourth cousins once removed.
[table id=7 /]
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