# How big is your family? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 9, 2011, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431 "2011-11-09T21:36:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/21 "2011-11-10T00:08:57Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > We could have the reunion in the corner booth at Denny’s. We don’t even need a booth. My family has more breadth than depth, lots and lots of aunts, uncles and cousins. But per the OP, there are only 3 of us, my brother, my partner and I. My brother has a few exes and exes’ kids; do they count? And my partner has god-knows-how-many siblings; do they count? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/22 "2011-11-10T00:26:53Z")
6.5. My wife and I, our two kids, the husband of the married one, my brother, and his wife who he is separated from and so counts 1/2. If I counted my father-in-law it would be 7.5. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/23 "2011-11-10T00:36:04Z")
1. Two parents + five siblings + three spouses for them + eleven nieces/nephews + one great niece + one husband + self + son. 65 to three weeks. My mom’s number would be 76: there’s the 25 of us, plus her mom, her eleven siblings, the nine spouses and 23 nieces and nephews, their spouses (4, I think), and kids (3). We don’t do Christmas presents. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/24 "2011-11-10T00:55:15Z")
Come to think of it, my grandmother’s number would probably be well over 100: there’s 75 directly descending from her (plus spouses), three living siblings and there must be another 20-30 descendants of those siblings. ---
**Author:** ![Sudden\_Kestrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecd19e/32.png) [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/25 "2011-11-10T00:57:05Z")
Lessee…Mom, me, my spouse, 3 sibs, 2 sibs-in-law = 8. Next generation = 9 if their spouses count, 8 otherwise, officially (+ 1 unofficially). Generation after that = 5 officially (+ 3 unofficially), which makes 21 or 22 officially (25 or 26 unofficially). These are the family members I’m aware of. Ages run from 81 down to 3. The official and unofficial counts have to do with an adoptive relationship where there is biological continuity but no legal recognition. ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/26 "2011-11-10T01:26:58Z")
I am it. I outlived all the parents, siblings and grandparents. I’m the lone wolf carrying the torch for the family and I’m OK with it. I feel a sense of contentment on one hand in helping all the others reach their end as well as possible, yet a tinge of regret that I might have handled affairs better. I’ve been known as a loner all my life so my niche is very fitting indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/27 "2011-11-10T01:45:33Z")
1. Just my parents and I. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/28 "2011-11-10T01:47:56Z")
1. Oldest is 71, youngest is… really young. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/29 "2011-11-10T01:57:54Z")
My parents are dead.I’m one of 5 children - I’m unmarried and so is one sister, meaning sibs and spouses = 7 +1 (me) = 8. My sibs have 11 children. Two are married. One niece has a child. 8 + 14 = 22. I have 42 first cousins. StG ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/30 "2011-11-10T01:58:39Z")
From parents down, four - mom, dad, me, my wife. Joe ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/31 "2011-11-10T02:04:13Z")
38 Both folks, me and 4 living sibs, 3 sibs’ spouses, 16 grandkids, 3 GK spouses and 7 great grandkids. On Mom’s side, family gatherings usually run between 75 and 100+. ETA: Age range 8-78. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/32 "2011-11-10T02:08:02Z")
From my parents on down, eight. If you start at my grandparents, though (what I think of as “the family”), it’s somewhere in the vicinity of 120. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/33 "2011-11-10T03:35:26Z")
We are 6 right now but in about 12.5 hours we’ll be 7! 61 to 2 (or -12.5 hrs) ---
**Author:** ![Kuboydal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecb155/32.png) [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/34 "2011-11-10T03:39:02Z")
Not very. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/35 "2011-11-10T03:45:52Z")
2-5 depending on how you count it; me and my brother are the “2”. Parents are dead, neither of us has biological children. He does however live with a woman and her two children; since they aren’t formally married it’s questionable if they count or not by the OPs standard. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/36 "2011-11-10T03:50:43Z")
10, with an upgrade to 11 due in April. 2 parents 1 brother, 1 sister-in-law, my partner, myself 2 nephews (and a niece or nephew in the way), 2 kids of my own. Age range: 58 years-6.5 months (or -5 months if you’re so inclined). These numbers would be so much larger if my parents answered this question, especially my mum. ---
**Author:** ![Ashes\_Ashes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@Ashes\_Ashes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashes_Ashes)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/37 "2011-11-10T04:46:03Z")
Just four, since Dad died. The number jumps to around sixty if I were to add aunts and cousins. One of my cousins married into a family that would be close to a hundred, easily. Huuuge, very catholic family. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/38 "2011-11-10T07:33:23Z")
16 including me, down the straight line from my parents to my grandchildren. My parents, two brothers, and three sisters in law are all gone already. Age range from 82 (my oldest brother) down to 3 (my youngest grandchild). ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/39 "2011-11-10T10:04:24Z")
Father, Brother, Sister-in-law, Their two kids, one of them married Wife, her parents Nine in total, ranging from 29 to 84. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2011, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431/40 "2011-11-10T10:49:20Z")
Mom, us three, sister in law, two nephews: seven. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-big-is-your-family/602431.md?page=3)