Who Is He To Me?

My daddy has a sister who has a son and her son who got married has a son. My daddy's sister's son is my cousin. What about my daddy's sister's son's son? How is my daddy's sister's son's son related to me?

Complicated? Let me bring a diagram in to get a clearer picture.



B4 = my daddy
B3 = my daddy's sister
C4 = my daddy's daughter who is ME
C3 = my daddy's sister's son who is MY COUSIN
D3 = my daddy's sister's son's son who is MY COUSIN'S SON

The question is... How are C4 and D3 related?

Me: My nephew achieved straight A's in PMR.
Bean: Your nephew?
Me: Yah... my daddy's sister's son's son
Bean: NOOOO! Your nephew is the son to your brother. He is your second cousin!
Me: NOOOO! He is my nephew! He is definitely not my second cousin!

Both of us were so bothered by it we went to a bookstore to search for a dictionary to check it out when we were suppose to go shopping. Dictionary and shopping. I forgo shopping. OMG! What was wrong with me? Wahaha...

Anyway... Bean was partially right.

nephew noun
a son of one's brother and sister

Okay... He won in that case. However, I was partially right too! He is not my second cousin!

Second cousin is the second generation below the level of sibling. With reference to the diagram above, D1 and D3 are second cousins. For example, my cousin's children and my children are second cousins.

My cousin and I are first cousins (C1-C4). We are 'first' because we are one generation below the level of sibling (B1-B6). Our children (D1-D3) are 'second' because they are two generation below the level of sibling (B1-B6)

So how are my cousin's son and I related? How are C4 and D3 related?

We are called...

"first cousins ONCE REMOVED"

I am serious! No joke.

The ' once removed' term means that one of the two relatives is one generation removed from being a first cousin with each other. My cousin's son and I (C4 and D3) are ONE generation difference. Hence, ONCE removed.

I find this term weird though. The term 'once removed' sounds as though I have been eliminated from the family and somehow found a way to slide in back to the family by marrying don't know who or something.

If everybody knew this... what would my cousin's son be calling me? AUNT first cousin once removed???

Errr... Its okay... Just call me 'che che' =D

P/S: For more related relationship terms, you can click here. It has an extensive of it.