If the parents are first cousins, the couple are second cousins. And so on: add a number for each generation between them and a common ancestor.
The other simple rule: add a "once removed" to the lesser number if one of them is one generation less distant from the common ancestor, and so on from there.
First cousins is when the parents of the two people are siblings.
Yeah: the way I learned this was, if someone is my parent's first cousin, that person is my first cousin once removed (because I'm one generation down). But the relationship of children of first cousins to one another is second cousins. My dad's first cousin Felicia has a daughter Cecily. She and I are second cousins. Cecily's oldest Sam and my oldest Alex are third cousins. Sam and my relationship is second cousin (because Cecily and I are second cousins) once removed (because we're separated by a generation. Alex's relationship to Felicia would be first cousin twice removed. ... I could draw a diagram.
Here's a diagram. You can click through to see it bigger.
ETA: Okay, my family tells me this is not as clear as I thought -_- I'm putting Gene and Felicia in a box, and Francesca and Cecily in a box, etc., because they're the same generation, not because they're, in Little Springtime's words, a pairing. I haven't given any of the mates--just gone down the line of descent--two parallel lines of descent. If I were to do it over, I'd make it clearer. *sigh* posting before getting feedback, yo! It's a problem!
So Alice and Beatrice are both Callahans by birth and pass their birth family name to their offspring? Is that common enough these days (and for the last generation or so) not to confuse anyone?
Second cousins is not incest by any rule I know of.
My father told me there was a Germanic "rule of the head" where you counted from your fingertips up the joints of the arm to the head. If the common ancestor appeared before that, it was incest.
I have never seen this anywhere else, though, so it may have been his invention, or family mythology.
I was thinking about asking a colleague who specialized in Germanic law and body parts as they relate to Germanic law, but Googling her name for contact info turned up an obituary from last year. :(
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The other simple rule: add a "once removed" to the lesser number if one of them is one generation less distant from the common ancestor, and so on from there.
First cousins is when the parents of the two people are siblings.
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ETA: Okay, my family tells me this is not as clear as I thought -_- I'm putting Gene and Felicia in a box, and Francesca and Cecily in a box, etc., because they're the same generation, not because they're, in Little Springtime's words, a pairing. I haven't given any of the mates--just gone down the line of descent--two parallel lines of descent. If I were to do it over, I'd make it clearer. *sigh* posting before getting feedback, yo! It's a problem!
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Their parents are grandchildren of a common progenitor, so your couple are great-grandchildren of said progenitor, so they're second cousins.
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Second cousins is not incest by any rule I know of.
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I have never seen this anywhere else, though, so it may have been his invention, or family mythology.
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I was thinking about asking a colleague who specialized in Germanic law and body parts as they relate to Germanic law, but Googling her name for contact info turned up an obituary from last year. :(
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