Hi all you n'th cousins many times removed :o) Charts are handy, but you can work it out anyway from closest relationship: Same parents - siblings Same grandparents - cousins Same great-grandparents - 2nd cousins Same great-great-grandparents - 3rd cousins and so on - the number of g's gives the cousin number, too easy. Then from the closest relationship, moving up or down the tree one level is one remove. eg. you and your grandmother's 3rd cousin are 3rd cousins twice removed. So to answer the question, your cousin 3 times removed is your great-grandmother's or great-grandfather's cousin - or far in the future, your great-granddaughter's or great-grandson's cousin. Remember removal works up or down the tree. These are mathematically exact relationships, eternal rather than old-fashioned. They're here to stay, as long as we're interested in family and who we are. Eschew fashion and stick with the maths! But it does get more complicated when you find a double half 2nd cousin three times removed, I suppose... Steve in Oz (lucky enough to make contact with 5th cousin Alison back in England, same g4-grandparents!) * "double" happens a few different ways, usually from cousins of some degree marrying, so you have the same ancestors on different branches (eg. I'm twice descended from Samuel & Elizabeth BAYNHAM of Yazor HEF, through a 2nd cousin marriage, so I'm doubly related to similar descendents). Also, double cousins happen where bro & sis marry sis & bro or similar - I have quite a few double 2nd cousins here in Oz from just this occurrence with my great-grands, and many more distant doubles - lots of multiple marriages between familes in old New South Wales & Moreton Bay which had small populations mid 1800's. * "half" we all know about from multiple marriages, but it can get complicated - my favourite 1st cousin once removed, Lenore (my Dad's cousin, and curator of the family museum) has a half-brother who is also her 2nd cousin once removed - their's mother's husbands were 1st cousins once removed - simple, no? :o) PS I find it convenient in long emails to use shorthand eg. 2nd cousin 3 times removed is "2c3r" - too obscure, or is it obvious? PPS Anyone keen enough to read this far, are you familiar with the old blues "The Dirty Dozens"? The best insult from these was "your Poppa is your cousin" - I finally figured out the only way this can happen - think about it! [email protected] wrote: >Can somebody please define the 'title' my cousin twice removed, or cousin >three times removed. Is this an old fashioned 'title' and no longer used >in >today's world? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you ever >so >much, >Helen in Seattle > >