# Is 'grand-cousin' a common genealogical term? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grand-cousin-a-common-genealogical-term/534611 "2010-04-01T18:27:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [April 1, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grand-cousin-a-common-genealogical-term/534611/1 "2010-04-01T18:27:14Z")
And if so, what is it? I saw a posting elsewhere in which a person mentioned that he was a “grand-cousing” of some person from decades ago. There was no other context. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grand-cousin-a-common-genealogical-term/534611/2 "2010-04-01T18:32:11Z")
I’ve never heard the term (I’m from Chicago BTW), but I’ve heard other odd family relation terms, such as god-nephew. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grand-cousin-a-common-genealogical-term/534611/3 "2010-04-01T18:34:35Z")
A grand-cousin seems to be another way to say third cousin. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grand-cousin-a-common-genealogical-term/534611/4 "2010-04-01T18:52:09Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > A grand-cousin seems to be another way to say third cousin. With the generational difference in the OP, I would think perhaps a twice removed cousin (my grandfather’s cousin, for instance, would be first cousin twice removed to me.) But it’s a term I’ve never heard of before. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grand-cousin-a-common-genealogical-term/534611/5 "2010-04-01T19:04:21Z")
Never ran across it in my Kinship and Marriage class (anthropology). However, my head may have still been hurting from studying ordinal cousins once/twice/thrice/etc. removed in Yankee kinship terminology. ---
**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:** [April 1, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grand-cousin-a-common-genealogical-term/534611/6 "2010-04-01T20:51:22Z")
> [@](#): > > With the generational difference in the OP, I would think perhaps a twice removed cousin (my grandfather’s cousin, for instance, would be first cousin twice removed to me.) But it’s a term I’ve never heard of before. Or maybe once removed: A grandfather is one generation different from a father, a grand-uncle is one generation different from an uncle, and so on. Plus, if “grand-cousin” is twice removed, what would be the term for once removed? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2010, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-grand-cousin-a-common-genealogical-term/534611/7 "2010-04-01T21:41:59Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Or maybe once removed: A grandfather is one generation different from a father, a grand-uncle is one generation different from an uncle, and so on. Plus, if “grand-cousin” is twice removed, what would be the term for once removed? That makes sense, too. I was thinking of grandfather’s first cousin, but I suppose father’s cousin would work, too. That said, the colloquial terms for these relationships are not always well defined. “First cousin once removed” is often referred to as “second cousin” colloquially. So, who knows what somebody using the term “grand cousin” means. Or, another less likely possibility might be the parents of a more distant cousin (since we have the terms uncle and aunt for parents of a first cousin, maybe grand cousin can be a general term to refer to parents of a second, third, etc., cousin.)