What is a second cousin once removed? Work it out in two clicks.
A second cousin is someone who shares a set of great-grandparents with you, and "once removed" means you are one generation apart: your second cousin's child, or your parent's second cousin. To name any relationship, find the ancestor you both descend from, then count how many generations each of you is below them.
Work it out.
Find the ancestor you both descend from, then say what that ancestor is to each of you.
Cousins, and what "removed" means.
The number in "second cousin" says how far back the shared ancestor is: first cousins share grandparents, second cousins share great-grandparents, third cousins share 2nd great-grandparents. "Removed" says how many generations apart the two of you are: your first cousin's child is your first cousin once removed, and so is your parent's first cousin.
- The shared ancestors are your grandparents: if they're the other person's grandparents too, that person is your 1st cousin; if they're the other person's great-grandparents, that person is your 1st cousin once removed; if they're the other person's 2nd great-grandparents, that person is your 1st cousin twice removed.
- The shared ancestors are your great-grandparents: if they're the other person's great-grandparents too, that person is your 2nd cousin; if they're the other person's 2nd great-grandparents, that person is your 2nd cousin once removed; if they're the other person's 3rd great-grandparents, that person is your 2nd cousin twice removed.
- The shared ancestors are your 2nd great-grandparents: if they're the other person's 2nd great-grandparents too, that person is your 3rd cousin; if they're the other person's 3rd great-grandparents, that person is your 3rd cousin once removed; if they're the other person's 4th great-grandparents, that person is your 3rd cousin twice removed.
- The shared ancestors are your 3rd great-grandparents: if they're the other person's 3rd great-grandparents too, that person is your 4th cousin; if they're the other person's 4th great-grandparents, that person is your 4th cousin once removed.
An aunt or uncle shares your grandparents but is one generation closer to them, so they're named from the other side: your parent's sibling is your aunt or uncle, and your sibling's child is your niece or nephew.
Or just ask.
AncestralFire does these steps with you. Tell it one name, and it reads your tree, searches FamilySearch Family Tree once you connect it, and tells you what it found, with the source behind each fact. A real answer:
How am I descended from him?
Your tree shows Patrick Kennedy as your great-grandfather: his son Patrick Joseph Kennedy was your grandfather, whose son Joseph Patrick Kennedy was your father.
From the Kennedy family's published tree, recorded on staging on September 29, 2026, the same conversation as How it works.
See a whole conversation on How it works, or what it finds in one family: The Bourbon family tree: Louis XV, king at five.
Keep reading.
- How to find your great-grandparents. You have eight great-grandparents, and you can usually find them in three steps: write down what your family already knows, find your grandparents' death certificates and obituaries (they usually name their parents), then find each family in a census, where they're listed together in one household.
- How to read a census record. A census record shows one household on the day the census was taken: who lived there, how old they were, where they were born, and more questions as the years went on.