# How many first cousins do you have? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 13, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975 "2004-10-13T06:39:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![NE\_Texan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e99b99/32.png) [@NE\_Texan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NE_Texan)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/61 "2004-10-13T19:41:42Z")
I have 26 first cousins; 11 on my father’s side (he had 4 siblings), and 15 on my mother’s (she had 6). Don’t ask me about first cousins once removed (ie, their children), it’s upwards of 25, but I don’t keep in touch with all my cousins, and don’t know all of their kids. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/62 "2004-10-13T19:43:03Z")
Eight. Four on my father’s side, four on my mother’s. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/63 "2004-10-13T20:07:06Z")
Fourteen. Three on Mom’s side, eleven on Dad’s. My sister-in-law has 81 first cousins. ---
**Author:** ![Eman\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Eman\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eman_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/64 "2004-10-13T20:22:24Z")
20 that I know of, and that’s on my Dad’s side alone. Probably just as many on my mom’s. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/65 "2004-10-13T20:33:17Z")
Let’s see… probably five or six dozen. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/66 "2004-10-13T20:33:45Z")
Father’s side: 17 (was 20, but three are now dead) Mother’s side: 6 (was 7, but one is now dead). I know just about all. I have never met two (one dead now) on my father’s side, and one on my mother’s side. ---
**Author:** ![Furry\_Mongoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c57346/32.png) [@Furry\_Mongoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furry_Mongoose)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/67 "2004-10-13T21:14:53Z")
15… and 10 of them are from the same Uncle… no multiple births… You gotta wonder how he had the time for _that_ ---
**Author:** ![IrreverentTone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@IrreverentTone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IrreverentTone)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/68 "2004-10-13T21:17:59Z")
14 on mom’s side, and 7 on dad’s ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/69 "2004-10-13T21:42:40Z")
Wow, for someone with Irish Catholic on one side and Italian Catholic on the other, my number is pitifully low: I have 7 first cousins. The oldest is 34, the youngest is 5. Two were adopted, including the one I had the hots for as a kid…if I’d only known then… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![drm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@drm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drm)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/70 "2004-10-13T21:57:08Z")
I have 13 on my fathers side and 11 on my mothers side. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/71 "2004-10-13T22:56:32Z")
33, total I believe. 3 are deceased. All these are from Pops Mercotan’s side. He was one of 12 kids. My mom was an only child. ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/72 "2004-10-13T23:01:10Z")
Well, so far \*\*jsgoddess \*\* is leading, with 108 first cousins - closely followed by \*\*labtrash \*\* (90-100) and \*\*Sassy \*\* (85). At the other end, both \*\*hajario \*\* and I have no first cousins. I find it interesting that many Dopers seem to be unsure of just how many first cousins they have. That seems strange to me, but then I’ve grown up in a background of a very small family (both parents only children, and three of four grandparents also only children). ---
**Author:** ![Katriona](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/katriona/32/113_2.png) [@Katriona](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Katriona)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/73 "2004-10-13T23:48:01Z")
I have 20-ish; 2 on my dad’s side and around 18 or 19 on my mom’s (I have one uncle who has married and divorced so many times I’m not even sure which ones are related and which are steps anymore). Mom has 7 brothers and sisters and dad has one sister. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2004, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/74 "2004-10-13T23:56:14Z")
I hope you don’t mind my throwing in my father’s strange record. He had fifty first cousins _on his father’s side only_. I don’t know how many first cousins he had on his mother’s side. He was the youngest of seventeen children in a blended family. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/75 "2004-10-14T00:05:51Z")
I forgot to add that since my father had siblings that have been dead for over a hundred years, I’m not sure how many first cousins I have at all. In fact, when I was growing up, some of Dad’s nephews seemed more like they should be the age of other kids’ grandparents. I met one of my second cousins from that side about fifteen years ago. If he were still alive, he would be over a hundred. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/76 "2004-10-14T00:12:39Z")
> [@Cunctator](#): > > Well, so far \*\*jsgoddess \*\* is leading, with 108 first cousins - closely followed by \*\*labtrash \*\* (90-100) and \*\*Sassy \*\* (85). > > At the other end, both \*\*hajario \*\* and I have no first cousins. > > I find it interesting that many Dopers seem to be unsure of just how many first cousins they have. That seems strange to me, but then I’ve grown up in a background of a very small family (both parents only children, and three of four grandparents also only children). Not so strange. One of my aunts lived in South Dakota and was the oldest in the family being about 6 years older than my father. So by the time I was 2 or three years old a couple of her children were already married and I never even knew them. Likewise another aunt lived in Sioux City (the other side of the moon in the early '30’s) and the same thing happened. It wouldn’t surprise me much if their own younger brothers and sisters didn’t know the older ones all that well. ---
**Author:** ![quilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/839c29/32.png) [@quilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quilter)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/77 "2004-10-14T00:19:54Z")
Three, or one, or none. Dad’s an only child, so none on that side. Mom had an older brother and a younger brother. Older uncle married a woman with a son when Sis and I were small; we see that cousin every decade or so. Younger uncle and his wife adopted two small kids when Sis and I were in our late teens; we haven’t seen either of them in eons. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/78 "2004-10-14T00:31:30Z")
I have seven biological first cousins on my mother’s side. There were nine, but two of my cousins have died (one heart attack, one car accident). In addition, my aunt raised two stepsons from her second marriage. I don’t know how many cousins I have on my father’s side as I have zilch info on that family. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/79 "2004-10-14T00:41:39Z")
5 by blood and 3 by adoption or from an earlier marriage. ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975/80 "2004-10-14T00:49:00Z")
I have nine. Four on my mom’s side, five on my dad’s side (both my parents have two siblings). Both my parents were raised Catholic too, but neither they nor their siblings were ever very strict about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/268975.md?page=5)