# Nephew & Nieces **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 24, 1999, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936 "1999-11-24T20:36:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 1999, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/1 "1999-11-24T20:36:00Z")
Mothers and fathers collectively are parents; brothers and sisters collectively are siblings. Similarly, sons & daughters are children. But what’s the term for nephews & nieces collectively? I’ve got 24 of them, and need an easy word to refer to them all. While we’re at it, is there a collective word for uncles & aunts? ---
**Author:** ![Mullinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@Mullinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mullinator)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 1999, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/2 "1999-11-24T20:54:00Z")
Relatives that don’t give good Christmas gifts. * * * Well, shut my mouth. It’s also illegal to put squirrels down your pants for the purposes of gambling. ---
**Author:** ![SoMoMom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@SoMoMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoMoMom)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 1999, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/3 "1999-11-24T21:18:00Z")
How about “the offspring of my siblings”? I think nieces and nephews is easier to say though. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 1999, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/4 "1999-11-24T22:00:00Z")
Niecphews. Is there such a thing as neicasism? * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![mr\_john](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8baadc/32.png) [@mr\_john](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mr_john)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 1999, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/5 "1999-11-24T22:03:00Z")
hit submit and all sorts of obvious thoughts occur. there is no collective for aunts and uncles. The collective of aunts of course is hill and uncles are whadjabringmes but together ? * * * “Pardon me while I have a strange interlude.”-Marx ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 1999, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/6 "1999-11-24T23:09:00Z")
At least for you low-level coders, how 'bout ‘zeroth cousins’? Go figure. Aunts and uncles are, of course, ‘first cousins minus-once removed’. Some people believe in-laws and half-relatives have imaginary values. Anything else I can help you with, relatively speaking, that is? Ray (And MIDI keyboards go to their grand pianos for Thanksgiving.) ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 1999, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/7 "1999-11-25T01:09:00Z")
Boy, that’s an interesting topic. Although I don’t know the answer it brings up a thought with me. I have Step Family…tons of Step Family! I often wonder what to call them. I get sick of saying “My step-brother’s aunt” my “step-aunt” and such. To make matters even worse I call my step-brother “brother” only when I have to clarify the step-uncle thing…but step-uncle seems so obtuse. sheesh ---
**Author:** ![Moonshine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Moonshine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonshine)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 1999, 10:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/8 "1999-11-25T10:55:00Z")
How 'bout “Kinfolk” for that Southern touch? ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 1999, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/9 "1999-11-25T16:14:00Z")
In my family, we’ve always called them “niblings”. * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [cmkeller@compuserve.com](mailto:cmkeller@compuserve.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective ---
**Author:** ![dlv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@dlv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dlv)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 1999, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/10 "1999-11-25T16:24:00Z")
I can’t but wonder if other languages have collective words for siblings, aunts/uncles, etc. I misplaced my French dictionary, and I don’t recall ever seeing a French word for “sibling”. A related question: when your sibling becomes a parent, you become an uncle/aunt, through no action of your own. In my old philosophy class, we called it a “Cambridge change”. Is there a more common name for it? ---
**Author:** ![techchick68](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea5d25/32.png) [@techchick68](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/techchick68)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 1999, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/11 "1999-11-25T17:06:00Z")
niblings…that’s too cool, mind if I borrow that? I love it! gotta say it again, niblings ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 1999, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/12 "1999-11-25T17:51:00Z")
I call my stepbrothers as such, but drop the “step” for everything else; i.e., their wives are sisters-in-law and their kids are my nieces and nephews. Maybe not technically correct; I think the usage can vary depending on the strength of the relationship. Anybody here who grew up with an Aunt \_\_\_\_\_ or Uncle \_\_\_\_ who was not really related? ---
**Author:** ![LemonGrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@LemonGrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LemonGrl)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 1999, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/13 "1999-11-26T06:28:00Z")
in french, there is no word for siblings. as for what you’d call your nieces & nephews and aunts & uncles, i’d just stick with “nieces & nephews” and “aunts & uncles.” if you must find a term, try “my brother’s family” or the like. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 1999, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/14 "1999-11-25T19:45:00Z")
Relatives? Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![Cessandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cessandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cessandra)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 1999, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/15 "1999-11-26T02:57:00Z")
Actually, in French and Spanish (and probably most Romance languages), any group of mixed sex can be collectively referred to in the masculine plural. Ie, brothers and sisters would just be “brothers”. It’s the same for parents and grandparents, nephews and nieces, and aunts and uncles. ---
**Author:** ![Cessandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cessandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cessandra)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 1999, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/16 "1999-11-26T03:00:00Z")
PS, this came at a good time. I was just wondering how to refer to my niece (who is my step-brother’s step-daughter) and nephew (who is my stepbrother’s son and half-sister to my niece). Usually I just call them Kristin and Johnathan. 🙂 * * * Cessandra Why sex is better than religion: You can scream “Oh, God” during sex, but just try saying “Oh, f\*\*\*” in church! ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 1999, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/17 "1999-11-26T13:51:00Z")
\*cmkeller: In my family, we’ve always called them “niblings”. \* That sounds perfect! Sounds like siblings, “nib” implies little, and it sounds patronizing enough to elevate my above the little rugrats. 🙂 Thanx! ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 1999, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nephew-nieces/4936/18 "1999-11-26T14:05:00Z")
\*techchick68: Boy, that’s an interesting topic. Although I don’t know the answer it brings up a thought with me. I have Step Family…tons of Step Family! I often wonder what to call them. I get sick of saying “My step-brother’s aunt” my “step-aunt” and such. To make matters even worse I call my step-brother “brother” only when I have to clarify the step-uncle thing…but step-uncle seems so obtuse.\* Here’s an equally confusing situation: My parents had three kids together. From their first marriages, my father had 2 kids and my mom one; these are my half-siblings. To top it off, my dad’s ex- and my mom’s ex- got married and had a daughter; not really related to me, but I call her my quarter-sister. She and I have the same half-siblings, but for opposite reasons. Since this all happened in the 50’s, the fathers did the “honorable” thing and surrendered their parental rights so that the other could adopt their children. So my mom’s first daughter is my half-sister & adopted sister. We don’t usually use any prefix when referring to each other (although my half-brother calls his dad’s third wife his evil step-mother :)). Since all six of my siblings (fractional or otherwise) are from 6-16 years older, they’ve all got a head start on the procreation. Add in the 7 niblings ( :)) from my wife’s siblings, and I have 24 niblings. Hence why I needed a collective term! _(I’ve gotta get “nibling” into print so that it’ll become an official word. :))_