# How Many First Cousins Do You Have? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 21, 2022, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047 "2022-08-21T20:19:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/21 "2022-08-21T22:08:38Z")
0; I could have my family reunion in the corner booth at Denny’s. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/22 "2022-08-21T22:23:07Z")
4 for me. My dad had one sister with two kids, my mom had one brother who survived to adulthood with two kids. I almost never see my maternal cousins. They are older and we just didn’t have much to do with them growing up. I think it’s been 6 or 7 years at least. My paternal cousins I grew up with and saw a fair bit until marriage and kids made things more complicated. Pre-Covid we would probably see them every couple of months. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/23 "2022-08-21T22:25:58Z")
With the death of my cousin Mike a few years ago, I’m down to one. . .maybe. I really don’t even know if John is still alive and he would be in his mid-80s, if so. No way to contact him. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/24 "2022-08-21T22:45:44Z")
I’m counting the cousins who have passed away and those who were adopted. I don’t know of any illegitimate children - I’m one of the youngest of the cousins, so I don’t get the good gossip that was spread around 30 years before I was born. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/25 "2022-08-21T22:50:00Z")
Eight on my father’s side (my dad’s one sibling had eight kids), about 30 on my mother’s side (she was one of 11 kids herself, and all but one of her siblings had at least one kid). There are many of those cousins on my mom’s side that I barely know, and a couple of them have passed away. ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/26 "2022-08-21T23:10:44Z")
I had six older and one younger on each side. And they matched up in ages. Weird coincidence. On my mother’s side, all are still alive. On my father’s side, there are only two of the older ones left. My mother was the last of her generation. All but one came to her funeral two years ago and that’s probably the last time I will see any of them. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/27 "2022-08-21T23:16:17Z")
My mother-in-law’s first-cousin count is in the high 40s. Comes from a countryside village in Iran where it’s normal for a family to have 6-to-8 kids. I have one. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/28 "2022-08-21T23:19:14Z")
Two on my father’s side, none on my mother’s. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/29 "2022-08-21T23:19:31Z")
Both my parents were only children. I grew up (I’m serious when I say this) envious of those with cousins, aunts and uncles. When my sister (my only siblin) had a kid, I promised I would be everything she could ever want in an uncle. I may have failed at almost everything else in life, but I was a great UncUnc. ---
**Author:** ![Tabco](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tabco/32/7644_2.png) [@Tabco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tabco)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/30 "2022-08-21T23:26:45Z")
8 aunts and uncles leading to 10 cousins, 2 of which have died (I’m 37). One died at around age 10 from heart issues and the other at 16 from driving off the road. From this generation there have been 7 kids born (so far). ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/31 "2022-08-21T23:28:36Z")
Five living. Seven at one time - of my parent’s siblings only one on either side had any kids. One of them (who I was close to at the time) died fairly young, another passed away a few years back from cancer. When I was quite young I was reasonably friendly with all of them except the very youngest, since for a few years I spent my summers alternately or serially with my paternal and maternal grandmothers who lived close to each set. But they all now live over a thousand miles away and we aren’t in any sort of regular communication. I saw one a half dozen years ago for an afternoon. Before that I think I’d have to go back to my late teens, mumble-decades ago. Decent enough folks I think, but we’re no longer close. ---
**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:** [August 21, 2022, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/32 "2022-08-21T23:39:49Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > about 30 on my mother’s side (she was one of 11 kids herself, and all but one of her siblings had at least one kid). OK, almost certainly a coincidence… but the order of your aunts and uncles wasn’t three girls, a boy, a girl, a boy, three more girls, a boy, and a girl, was it? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/33 "2022-08-21T23:43:07Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > OK, almost certainly a coincidence… but the order of your aunts and uncles wasn’t three girls, a boy, a girl, a boy, three more girls, a boy, and a girl, was it? That’s not the order, but it is the right number of girls and boys. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/34 "2022-08-21T23:49:31Z")
Twenty-eight. My dad was one of three, but my mom was one of seven, and one of her sisters had seven kids. Most of the others had less than 3 (and most of them had only one or two). My mom had the second highest total with four. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/35 "2022-08-21T23:52:25Z")
Three now; five originally. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2022, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/36 "2022-08-21T23:58:06Z")
Depends on how you keep score. On Dad’s side: 4. All known specifically. All still alive. On Mom’s side: an unknown and (to me) unknowable number around 20-25 at birth with unknown & (to me) unknowable attrition since. Didn’t vote since unsure how to fit the above reality into the poll boxes. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/37 "2022-08-22T00:04:33Z")
8 that I know, I have like 5-6 on the West coast that I’ve never met, that after marriages and kids and grandkids have turned into like 100 people. I wouldn’t know any of them if I literally ran into them on the street, and vice versa. All on my mother’s side. Even counting the ones I’ve never met I am the youngest person in my generation of the family. Some of my cousins are more than 20 years older than me. As a result, nearly 100% of my clothes were hand-me-downs from all of my cousins until I was like 12. That was fine when I was just at home with mom, but going to school in the early-to-mid 80s wearing clothes from 1972 was really uncool. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/38 "2022-08-22T00:07:49Z")
I only have 13 first cousins. However, my ex-husband had 64 first cousins. His mother was 1 of 18 children. He has a cousin who had 95 first cousins - his mother was also 1 of those 18 children, and his father was 1 of 6 children. Family reunions were humongous. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/39 "2022-08-22T00:29:53Z")
I don’t know, but at least 19. Mom had 2 siblings and only one had a child, the only first cousin I have who is younger than me (except one of my two paternal cousins who died). Dad had 5 siblings: - Youngest sister had 2 children. One died at 2 days old due to accidental suffocation in the hospital nursery (an idiot nurse tied pacifiers to diapers to keep them propped in the babies mouths…) - Middle brother #1 had 1 child - Middle brother #2 had 3 children - Oldest sister had 2 children. One died at age 2 due to a heart defect - Oldest brother had 10 children that the family knew by I believe half a dozen women of before fleeing the country to avoid bigamy charges in 1980. He could have had zero to dozens of additional children since ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2022, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047/40 "2022-08-22T01:03:41Z")
11 on my dad’s, 3 on my mom’s. I was always a lot closer to my cousins on my dad’s side. My cousins on my mom’s side were all older than me, and lived down in Florida. Whereas on my dad’s side, we’re all pretty close in age, live close to each other, and we really were more like siblings. There are TONS of pictures of us growing up. Even now, we still get together a lot. (As you can imagine, we tended to get into a lot of trouble, too. 😃 ) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-first-cousins-do-you-have/970047.md?page=3)