Cousin Chart

Cousin" Chart

Keeping track of family relationships can be complicated and it's sometimes hard to figure out how one person is related to another, especially when you come upon second, third or fourth cousins. We hope the chart below will help.

Abbreviations Used:
CA Common Ancestor C Child
GC Grandchild GGC Great Grandchild
S Sibling (Brother/Sister) N Niece/Nephew
GN Grand Niece/Nephew GGN Great Grand Niece/Nephew
#C Cousin Relationship, e.g., 1C = First Cousin, etc.
#R # of times removed, e.g., 4R = 4 times removed, etc.

Instructions for using the following chart
  1. The box marked CA on the chart in the upper left-hand corner is the common ancestor of two people.
  2. Identify the relationship of the first person to the common ancestor, e.g., child, grandchild, 8th great grandchild, etc. Find that box on the top row
  3. Identify the relationship of the second person to the common ancestor, e.g., grandchild, great grandchild, 3rd great grandchild, etc. Find that box in the left-hand column.

 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
0 CA C GC GGC 2 GGC 3 GGC 4 GGC 5 GGC 6 GGC 7 GGC 8 GGC
1 C S N GN GGN 2 GGN 3 GGN 4 GGN 5 GGN 6 GGN 7 GGN
2 GC N 1C 1C 1R 1C 2R 1C 3R 1C 4R 1C 5R 1C 6R 1C 7R 1C 8R
3 GGC GN 1C 1R 2C 2C 1R 2C 2R 2C 3R 2C 4R 2C 5R 2C 6R 2C 7R
4 2 GGC GGN 1C 2R 2C 1R 3C 3C 1R 3C 2R 3C 3R 3C 4R 3C 5R 3C 6R
5 3 GGC 2 GGN 1C 3R 2C 2R 3C 1R 4C 4C 1R 4C 2R 4C 3R 4C 4R 4C 5R
6 4 GGC 3 GGN 1C 4R 2C 3R 3C 2R 4C 1R 5C 5C 1R 5C 2R 5C 3R 5C 4R
7 5 GGC 4 GGN 1C 5R 2C 4R 3C 3R 4C 2R 5C 1R 6C 6C 1R 6C 2R 6C 3R
8 6 GGC 5 GGN 1C 6R 2C 5R 3C 4R 4C 3R 5C 2R 6C 1R 7C 7C 1R 7C 2R
9 7 GGC 6 GGN 1C 7R 2C 6R 3C 5R 4C 4R 5C 3R 6C 2R 7C 1R 8C 8C 1R
10 8 GGC 7 GGN 1C 8R 2C 7R 3C 6R 4C 5R 5C 4R 6C 3R 7C 2R 8C 1R 9C

This chart provided courtesy
of the State Library of North Carolina