# My aunt's husband's kids are my what? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 5, 2007, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272 "2007-11-05T08:06:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chrismoody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f6c823/32.png) [@Chrismoody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chrismoody)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/1 "2007-11-05T08:06:09Z")
Inspired by another thread… I recently found out that a relative I didn’t know I had is visiting the area and I’d like to figure out what relationship he is to me. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/2 "2007-11-05T08:09:50Z")
Your aunt’s husband is your uncle. So the kids would be nephews and nieces. Unless it’s a second husband and your only related by blood to your aunt. If that’s the case and you’re dealing with your aunt’s stepchildren, I would call them by their first name. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/3 "2007-11-05T08:10:10Z")
[QUOTE=Chrismoody] Inspired by another thread.. I recently found out that a relative I didn’t know I had is visiting the area and I’d like to figure out what relationship he is to me. [/QUOTE] Cousins. I mean, technically, they’re your aunt’s stepchildren, but “cousin” is a nice catchall, which describes the relationship reasonably well. You could even say “step cousin” with a wink, but it’d be a made-up term. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/4 "2007-11-05T08:13:10Z")
[QUOTE=BobT] Your aunt’s husband is your uncle. So the kids would be nephews and nieces. [/QUOTE] \ Your siblings children are nephews and nieces. Your uncle’s children are cousins \ ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/5 "2007-11-05T11:10:21Z")
Yep. **Diomedes** is correct. They would be your cousins. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/6 "2007-11-05T15:20:27Z")
[QUOTE=Diomedes] Cousins. I mean, technically, they’re your aunt’s stepchildren, but “cousin” is a nice catchall, which describes the relationship reasonably well. You could even say “step cousin” with a wink, but it’d be a made-up term. [/QUOTE] Right. My mother’s sister married a widower with three children. They had one child of their own together. All four are my cousins, although only the last is a blood relative. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/7 "2007-11-05T15:32:30Z")
As others have said, your aunt’s husband’s children (assuming that they were not by your aunt), are step-cousins, although hardly anyone uses that term. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/8 "2007-11-05T16:57:31Z")
Here’s a relationship I grew up with (names changed in standard Messageboard fashion): My **mother’s brother Jerry married Betty who became my aunt** , though there was no blood relation, because she was married to my uncle- mother’s brother = blood relation. They made babies named **Jimmy and Susie- children of my uncle and aunt, my cousins** , blood relation ast my mother’s brother’s kids. **Uncle Jerry and Aunt Betty got divorced**. As Uncle Jerry led an increasingly troubled life, Aunt Betty (no blood relation) took responsibility upon herself to keep her kids in touch and involved with Jerry’s family- their cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents. **Aunt Betty remarried Donnie** (to whom I have no blood relation), Donnie became stepfather to my cousins Jimmy and Susie. **Aunt Betty became stepmother** to Donnie’s daughters **Sarah and Jane**. Sarah and Jane (to whom I have no blood relation) became step-siblings to my cousins (blood relation) Jimmy and Susie. I have never called Sarah and Jane anything other than my cousins. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/9 "2007-11-05T21:14:20Z")
If two people trace their ancestry to someone in common, they are cousins (unless they are siblings). If the person fewer generations below that someone is n generations below that someone, the cousins are “(n-1)th cousins”. Thus sharing a great grandmother makes two people 2nd cousins. If the person who is more generations below that someone in common is k generations further than the closer person is, then they are “(n-1)th cousins, k times removed”. So when your second cousin has a child, that child becomes your second cousin once removed. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/10 "2007-11-05T21:30:13Z")
[QUOTE=Napier] If two people trace their ancestry to someone in common, they are cousins (unless they are siblings). [/QUOTE] Or parent, child, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandparent, grandchild, etc. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2007, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/11 "2007-11-05T23:32:25Z")
To be totally correct, they are your step first cousins. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/12 "2007-11-06T07:22:37Z")
[QUOTE=Diomedes] \ Your siblings children are nephews and nieces. Your uncle’s children are cousins \ [/QUOTE] Such is the price I pay for being a smart aleck instead of correct. ---
**Author:** ![reea41](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c57346/32.png) [@reea41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reea41)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/13 "2007-11-06T09:20:06Z")
why such question ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-aunts-husbands-kids-are-my-what/425272/14 "2007-11-06T16:50:22Z")
\>Or parent, child, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, grandparent, grandchild, etc. Why, yes, absolutely - I wasn’t thinking!