Cousin - Niece - Nephew

You are the nephew of your aunt and uncle.
Their children are your cousins.

"Real" north americans will have to explain how the first, second, third ... cousin and cousin once removed thing works. I think there may even be charts for that sort of thing.

Aha. Thanks for the info ehBeth.

So the daughter of my uncle and aunt is my cousin, but the future children of my sister are my nephews / nieces, right?

See e.g. here

Thanks! So the sons of my cousin are my first cousins once-removed.

Yes, and the relation between your child and your 1st cousin once removed is second cousin.

You are the nephew and your sister is the niece of your parents' siblings (their brothers and sisters)... as they are your aunts and uncles.

A cousin is the child of your parents' siblings. You can have cousins from your dad's side of the family and cousins from your mom's side who are both considered first cousins to you, though they are not related to each other and may not even know the other. They might refer to each other as cousins-in-law, but that is so awkward that in many families, if they do happen to know each other, the may call each other cousins as they are growing up or "shirt-tail relations".

All of your cousins consider your parents to be their aunt and uncle, as you consider their parents to be your aunts and uncles. Your great-aunts are your parents' aunts, the sisters of one of your grandparents, as your great-uncles are your parents' uncles, the brothers of your grandparents.

Say your mom, Mary, has a sister, Margaret.
Margaret is your aunt, and her husband is your uncle... though not as close an uncle as Mary and Margaret's brother, Mike. That's because Mike is a blood relative and your aunt's husband is not.

You can also refer to those children of your aunts and uncles as your "first" cousins.

Their children are your first cousins "once removed" -- a generation removed.

Your cousin's children and your children are second cousins.

If your family is not too concerned with form, your cousins' children may refer to you as "uncle" or "aunt" even though you are techically not. That's an honorific based on age.

Do you want me to explain third cousins, second cousins once removed, and first cousins three-times removed?

Whoops... guess I was wrong about the great-uncle/ great-aunt thingie.

from Walter's website:

North Americans make it all so complicated.

Ah, you need a consanguinity chart. See: http://www.heirsearch.com/table.htm

Charts like these are used to determine who's a close relative in the event of a death. The decedent refers to the deceased person. Obviously, these relationships existed before the decedent passed away.

if i remember correctly ... the german 'cousen' (m) and 'cousine' (f) is the english 'cousin' and the german 'nichte' is the english 'niece'. (?) hbg

Rick I sincerely admire your courage in asking this question.

I have lots of cousins. Never knew I was related to 'em.

You do, hamburger! (And then we have the 'cousins 2nd degree' [zweiten Grades] ... ...) :wink:

All such was the most confusing for most students in "law of succession".

Re: Cousin - Niece - Nephew


How about this in the Netherlands, Rick?

Hmm, tough one. I'll start with cousins (the sons/daughters of my uncles and aunts). When your cousin is a girl/woman, you call her "nicht"; when your cousin is a boy/man, you call him "neef". In plural, you can have "nichten" and "neven". Now, the translation for nephew/niece (the son/daughter of your sister/brother) is actually the same ("nicht" and "neef"), although in many cases, people use diminutives when speaking of their nephew/niece; this means that a "nicht" will be called "nichtje", and a "neef" "neefje" (+ -je). Plural that would be "nichtjes" and "neefjes" (not "nevenjes" or something) (+ -jes).

Rickje

Actually, it's not that your cousin is your nicht, neef, Nichte, Neffe, niece, nephew ... but your mother's and father's ... nièce, neveu ... :wink:

Walterchen

Haha Rickje Very good! (though never mention that name again!)

Right