Genealogy Relationship Terms &

Definitions
Cousin Terms and Definitions
Cousin (or First Cousin or Full Cousin)
The son or daughter of an uncle or aunt.

Second Cousin
People who have the same great-grandparents, but not the same grandparents.

Third, Fourth, and Fifth Cousins

Third cousins have the same great-great-grandparents, but not the same great-
grandparents. Fourth cousins have the same great-great-great-grandparents, but not
the same 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. 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.

Cross Cousin
A cousin who is the child of one's mother's brother or one's father's sister.

Parallel Cousin
A cousin who is the child of one's mother's sister or one's father's brother. Parallel
cousins are the children of two brothers or two sisters.

Double Cousins
If two brothers in one family marry two sisters from another, and each couple has a
child, the offspring are double cousins. The addition of the word double to the first cousin
term is the result of the number of common grandparents that are shared in this case.
Regular first cousins share only one set of common ancestors, while double first cousins
share all lineal and collateral relatives.

Kissing Cousin
A distant relative known well enough to be kissed when greeted.

Other Relative Terms

Parent
One who begets, or brings forth, offspring; a father or a mother.

Father
One who has begotten a child, whether son or daughter; a generator; a male parent.

Paternal
Of or pertaining to a father; Received or derived from a father; hereditary; as, a paternal
estate.

Mother
A female parent; especially, one of the human race; a woman who has borne a child.

Maternal
Of or pertaining to a mother.

Grandparent
A parent of one's mother or father; grandfather or grandmother.

Grandfather
A father's or mother's father; an ancestor in the next degree above the father or mother
in lineal ascent.

Grandmother
The mother of one's father or mother.

Great-grandfather
The father of one's grandfather or grandmother.

Great-grandmother
The mother of one's grandfather or grandmother.

Child
A son or a daughter; a male or female descendant, in the first degree; the immediate
progeny of human parents.

Son
A male child; the male issue, or offspring, of a parent, father or mother.

Daughter
The female offspring of the human species; a female child of any age.

Grandson & Granddaughter

A son's or daughter's son. And the daughter of one's son or daughter.

Sibling
A person's brother or sister.

Brother
A male person who has the same father and mother with another person.

Half-brother
A brother by one parent, but not by both.
Sister
A female who has the same parents with another person.

Half-sister
A sister by one parent, but not by both.

Uncle
The brother of one's father or mother; also applied to an aunt's husband.

Aunt
The sister of one's father or mother.

Granduncle or Great-uncle
A father's or mother's uncle.

Grandaunt or Great-aunt
The aunt of one's father or mother.

Nephew
The son of a brother or a sister, or of a brother-in-law or sister-in-law.

Niece
A daughter of one's brother or sister, or of one's brother-in-law or sister-in-law.

Grandnephew
The grandson of one's brother or sister.

Grandniece
The granddaughter of one's brother or sister.

In-law
A relative by marriage.

 Brother-in-law
The brother of one's husband or wife; also, the husband of one's sister.
 Sister-in-law
The sister of one's husband or wife; also, the wife of one's brother.
 Father-in-law
The father of one's husband or wife.
 Mother-in-law
The mother of one's husband or wife.
 Son-in-law
The husband of one's daughter.
 Daughter-in-law
The wife of one's son.

Step-Relative
A relative by subsequent marriage

 Step-father
The husband of one's mother by a subsequent marriage.
 Step-mother
The wife of one's father by a subsequent marriage.
 Step-brother
A brother by the marriage of one's father with the mother of another, or of one's mother
with the father of another.
 Step-sister
A daughter of one's stepfather or stepmother by a former marriage.
 Step-son
A son of one's husband or wife by a former marriage.
 Step-daughter
A daughter of one's wife or husband by a former marriage.

Relationship Terms
Affinity
Relationship by marriage (as between a husband and his wife's blood relations, or
between a wife and her husband's blood relations); -- in contradistinction to
consanguinity, or relationship by blood; kinship by marriage or adoption; not a blood
relationship.

Ancestor
One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father's or mother's side, at any
distance of time; a progenitor; a forefather.

Ancestry
A series of ancestors or progenitors; lineage, or those who compose the line of natural
descent.

Ascendant
Someone from whom you are descended but usually more remote than a grandparent.
An earlier or higher generation.

Bloodline
The descendants of one individual; pedigree.

Collateral
Descending from the same stock or ancestor, but not in the same line or branch or one
from the other.

Consanguinity
The relation of persons by blood, in distinction from affinity or relation by marriage;
blood relationship; as, lineal consanguinity; collateral consanguinity.

Degree of Kinship
The level of relationship between two persons related by blood, such as parent to child,
one sibling to another, grandparent to grandchild or uncle to nephew, first cousins, etc.,
calculated as one degree for each step from a common ancestor. This may become
important when determining the heirs of an estate when there is no will.

Descent
Properties attributable to your ancestry; the descendants of one individual; one
generation of a specific lineage; derivation, as from an ancestor; procedure by
generation; lineage; birth; extraction.

Descendant
A person descended from his or her older generations.

Family
People descended from a common ancestor; a person having kinship with another or
others; The group comprising a husband and wife and their dependent children,
constituting a fundamental unit in the organization of society.

Forefather
One who precedes another in the line of genealogy in any degree, but usually in a
remote degree; an ancestor.

Generation
A single step or stage in the succession of natural descent; a rank or remove in
genealogy. The body of those who are of the same genealogical rank or remove from an
ancestor; the mass of beings living at one period; also, the average lifetime of man, or
the ordinary period of time at which one rank follows another, or father is succeeded by
child, usually assumed to be one third of a century; an age.

Genealogy
An account or history of the descent of a person or family from an ancestor;
enumeration of ancestors and their children in the natural order of succession; a
pedigree. Study of one's ancestry; summary history or table of a person's ancestry.
Regular descent of a person or family from a progenitor; pedigree; lineage.

Kin
Relatives; persons of the same family or race.

Kindred
Relationship by birth or marriage; consanguinity; affinity; kin.

Lineage
Descent in a line from a common progenitor; progeny; race; descending line of offspring
or ascending line of parentage.

Pedigree
A line of ancestors; descent; lineage; genealogy; a register or record of a line of
ancestors.

Progenitor
An ancestor in the direct line; a forefather.
Relative
A person connected by blood or affinity; strictly, one allied by blood; a relation; a
kinsman or kinswoman.

Relation
A person connected by consanguinity or affinity; a relative; a kinsman or kinswoman; a
person related by blood or marriage.