First Cousin Once Removed: What Does That Mean? Solving the Mysterious Connections of Your Family Tree

You hear it thrown around to demonstrate word of mouth:  I heard it from my best friend’s brother’s wife’s third cousin once removed.  But who actually knows what it means?  Not many.  It sounds complicated; how can family be removed?  Many people assume it relates to divorce or relation through marriage, but in reality, “removed” refers a generation gap.

Before you can really understand what it means to have a cousin “removed,” it’s important to understand the actual connection between cousins, which itself, I’ve found, is misunderstood by most people.

Everyone knows what a first cousin is—children whose parents are siblings.  But from there it gets confused.  I, and most everyone I know, grew up thinking that my mom’s first cousin was my second cousin—not true.  Second cousin, third cousin, fourth cousin, and so on refer to how many generations away from the siblings you are; they are equal in generations down, so while my mom’s first cousin is not my second cousin, her first cousin’s kids are my second cousins because we are two generations away from the sibling pair—our grandparents.

Now that second cousins, third cousins, etc. are understood, removed cousins are easier to understand.  Removed refers to how many generations removed someone is from the equal generations of cousins.  For example, fourth cousins are equally removed four generations from the set of siblings, but what if you want to know your connection to your grandmother’s fourth cousin?  You and her cousin are not of the same generation; you are separated by two generations, so you are two generations removed.  Your grandmother’s fourth cousin would then be your fourth cousin twice removed.  Going back to the previous example of your mom’s first cousin, you are one generation apart, so your mom’s first cousin is your first cousin once removed.