Talking about your family | english-at-home.com Talking about your family English Vocabulary for talking about your family. Your family tree Your closest relatives are your parents: your mother and father; and your siblings (brothers or sisters). If your mother or father is not an only child, you also have aunts and / or uncles. An aunt is the sister of your mother or father, while an uncle is the brother of your mother or father. Your female child is called your daughter, and your male child is your son. If your aunts or uncles have children, they are your first cousins. (In English, the word cousin is used, whether the cousin is female or male.) Your female cousin is your mother (or father's) niece, while a male cousin is the nephew of your mother and father. In-laws When you marry, your husband (or wife's) family become your in-laws. The mother of your spouse (husband or wife) is your mother-in-law and his or her father becomes your father-in-law. The term in-law is also used to describe your relationship with the spouses of your siblings. So the husband of your sister becomes your brother-in-law, while the sister of your husband becomes your sister-in-law.

If you are a woman, you become the daughter-in-law of your husband's parents, and if you are a man, you become the son-in-law of your wife's parents. The same term in-law is used for all generations. The husband of your aunt is still your mother's brother-in-law, for example. Grandparents / grandchildren The parents of your parents are your grandparents – grandmother and grandfather. You are their grandchildren – either a granddaughter or a grandson. If your grandparent has a sister, she is your great-aunt. If your grandparent has a brother, he is your great-uncle. (And you are either his or her great-niece or great-nephew.) The mother of your grandmother or grandfather is your great-grandmother. The father is your great-grandfather. If you go back another generation, the grandmother of your grandmother / grandfather is your great-great-grandmother. The grandfather of your grandparent becomes your great-great-grandfather. Second families If your mother or father remarries, you can acquire a new family and set of relatives. For example, if your father marries a second wife, she becomes your step-mother. Any children she already has become your step-sisters or step-brothers.

If your mother or father remarries and has children, they become your half-brothers or half-sisters. You might also hear people talking about their biological brother / sister etc, to mean a brother who is related by blood, rather than by marriage.

Types of family nuclear family = mother, father and children: "The traditional British family unit is a nuclear family." single-parent / one-parent family = a family which only has one parent (because the parents are divorced, or because one of the parents has died): "There are more and more single-parent families in the UK." immediate family = your closest relatives: "Only immediate family members attended the funeral." extended family = your entire family: "The wedding invitations were sent to the entire extended family." close-knit family = a family where the members have close relationships with each other: "They are a close-knit family." dysfunctional family = a family where the members have serious problems with each other: "He comes from a rather dysfunctional family." blood relative = a relative connected to you by "blood" rather than through marriage: "She's not a blood relative, but we're still very close." Expressions with family family gathering = a meeting / celebration of family members: "There's a small family gathering next week." family resemblance = where members of the family look / act similar: "You can see a distinct family resemblance between the father and the son." to start a family = to start having children: "They want to wait a couple of years before

 starting a family." to run in the family = a characteristic that is common among family members: "Baldness runs in his family." to bring up / raise a family = to have and look after children: "It's difficult to raise a family on one income." a family car = a car big enough to transport a family: "The Volvo Estate is a popular family car." family-size = large quantity item: "We need to buy family-size packets of biscuits!" family-friendly = a policy that favours families: "This hotel is family-friendly." family doctor = a doctor who looks after general medical needs: "There are a number of good family doctors in this area." family man = a man who prefers to spend his time with his family: "John is a family man." family values = traditional ideas about what a family should be: "Some political parties often emphasise family values and the importance of marriage." family name = surname: "What's your family name?" Describing family relationships Children often quarrel with each other, and these arguments – or squabbles – are often quickly resolved.

In fact, sibling rivalry (the competition between brothers and sisters) is quite common. More seriously, if arguments continue into adulthood, family feuds can develop where both sides can end up hating each other and even trying to hurt or destroy each other. A person who no longer speaks to a family member is estranged from his / her family. Often estrangement is voluntary. However, if parents decide they no longer want anything to do with their children, they cut them off (= break off communiation), or even disinherit them. (Decide not to leave them anything when they die.) Most people feel loyalty to their family, and will defend family members saying "He / She's family". There's also a saying "Blood's thicker than water" which means that your family ties are stronger than any other relationships. What relation would your father's sister's sister-in-law | Best Riddle What relation would your father's sister's sister-in-law What relation would your father's sister's sister-in-law be to you? Click to see the answer Your mother (or it could be your aunt-in-law). Relationships EMOVED ?? Who the dickens is your third cousin once removed ? your great- grandaunt ? your sibling ? your cousin -german?

What exactly is a half -sister, a step -brother? If a child has the same name as his father, can you correctly call him " the second " if you dont like " junior "? Is there a difference between a genealogy and a family history ? Now that the search for "roots" is a national pastime, these questions are plaguing more and more people. Of course, many of the terms used to express family relationships are well-known and used dully: father, grandmother, uncle, sister and so on. But let us take a look at some of the lesser used terms. SIBLINGS : Siblings are the children of the same parents. It is a convenient term meaning "brothers and sisters". If you have two brothers and one sister, you have three siblings. SPOUSE : Another convenient term meaning "husband or wife". STEP- : If your parents are parted (death, divorce, ammulment) and one of your parents renames, his/her new spouse then becomes your stepmother/father. If your stepparent had also been previously married and had had children by that first marriage, those children now become your stepbrothers/ sisters.

Because they have completely different parents than you, your stepbrothers/sisters are not related to you "by blood" but are related by "extended family ties". HALF- : If your remarried parent and your stepparent have children, those children are your half brothers/sisters. Because you have one parent in common, you are partly (half) related "by blood". IN-LAWS : If your brother or sister gets married, his/her new spouse becomes your sister-in-law or brother-in-law, but the family of your new sister(brother)-in-law does not become related to you, only in-laws to your newly married sibling. When you marry, however, you do acquire a whole family of in-laws of your own. Your new mates family now become your father-in-law, mother-in-law, sister- or brother-in-law. In-laws, like step-relatives, are not related "by blood" but by "extended family ties". Note that the term sister- or brother-in-law is used both for your spouses sibling and for your siblings spouse. GRANDNIECE/NEPHEW : The children of your siblings are your nieces and nephews.

The children of your nieces/nephews (your siblings grandchildren) are your grandnieces/nephews, and their children are your great-grandnieces/nephews. Grand-niecs/nephews are also sometimes called great-nieces/nephews, and great-grandnieces/nephews are also called great-great-nieces/nephews. GRANDAUNT/UNCLE : The siblings of your parents are your aunts/uncles. The siblings of your grandparents were originally termed grandaunts/uncles and the siblings of your great-grand parents were great-grandaunts/uncles. But over the years those terms have gradually been replaced by the less de-scriptive great-aunt/uncle for grandaunt/uncle and great-great-aunt/uncle for great-grandaunt/uncle. Because it is more logical, many modern genealogists still prefer to use the older terms. Either is correct. COUSINS : The children of siblings are first cousins. Thus your children are first cousins to both your nieces nephews and your spouses nieces/nephews.

But your nieces nephews and those of your spouse are not related to each other because their parents are not related. First cousins are also called full cousins or cousins-german. Children of first cousins are second cousins, and their children are third cousins and so on down through the generations. But what is the relationship of your child to your great-grandniece? Or of your great-grandchild to your grandnephew? Here is where we use the "removes". To understand "removed", it is important to keep the generations in order. A simple diagram is an excellent method of doing this. Let us imagine that John has a son Peter, a grand-daughter Sarah, a great-granddaughter Ulla and a sister Dora. Dora has a child Kim, a grandchild Robert and a great-grand-daughter Tabitha. PARENTS | | ULLA -- 3rd Cousins - TABITHA We can now sketch a diagram to show that relationship. To determine Peters relationship to Tabitha, look at the diagram. Peter and Kim are first cousins. Any descendant of Kim is still a first cousin to Peter but each generation is one "remove".

Thus for Peter, Robert is a first cousin one generation removed, a term usually shortened to "once removed", and Tabitha is then Peters first cousin twice removed. The same holds for second, third, etc. cousins. Robert is a second cousin to Sarah so he is a second cousin once removed to Ulla. Once while working on our family genealogy, I visited an eighth cousin once removed! Now that is a distant cousin (her great-grandfather and my great grandfather were brothers in the 17th century!). Strangely enough, although our relationship was so very distant, we found we were kindred spirits sharing many hobbies and pleasures. Our similar interests even extended to our enjoyment of jigsaw puzzles. When I mentioned I was a "real puzzle nut", her husband laughed and led me to a closet filled floor to ceiling with puzzles just like my closet at home 3000 miles away We even had many of the same puzzles. NAMESAKES : If your name is John Henry Doe and you name your son John Henry Doe, you then become Senior (Sr.) and your son Junior (Jr.), not the second (II). If your son John Henry Doe, Jr.

names his son (your grandson) the same, his son then becomes the third", i.e. John Henry Doe III. However, if you name your son Richard Henry or John Harold, anything but John Henry Doe, but he still names his son (your grandson) after you, your grandson then becomes John Henry Doe II. Likewise if your brother Edward Charles Doe names his son after you, that child (your nephew) would also be John Henry Doe II. A junior" always has the same name as his father whereas "the second" is not named for his father but does have the same name as an older relative (grandfather, uncle, cousin, etc.). The third" is the third descendant in a family with the same name in either direct or indirect line. In everyday practice, the Sr., Jr., III are often only used when all parties are living but genealogically it is important to maintain the correct title to prevent confusion. One of the most peculiar cases I ever came across was in my own family genealogy. A fore-bearer named Japhet had several children including a son named Japhet. When his first wife died, he remarried and had another son.

His second wife also insisted on naming her son Japhet after his father. The boys were only about seven years apart in age. It must have been most confusing ---a father with two sons, Japhet #1 and Japhet #2 GENEALOGY versus FAMILY HISTORY : Although currently the two terms are frequently used interchangeably, there is a difference between a genealogy and a family history. A genealogy starts with one ancestor, most often the original immigrant to the United States, and traces all his descendants to the present time. If that ancestor arrived on these shores in colonial times, you can imagine the hundreds and hundreds of descendants he now probably has and what a mammoth task it must be to find even half of them! A family history starts with yourself (or your children) and moves back through your two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, sixteen great-great-grandparents, thirtytwo great-grandparents, etc. spreading out fanlike to discover all the people from whom you are descended, not just names and dates but preferably information about their lives and backgrounds. Most genealogy courses offered today concentrate mostly on techniques for a family history rather than a genealogy. However, many of the methods can be used for both.

MATERNAL/PATERNAL RELATIVES : In our English language, we do not differentiate between the maternal (mothers) and paternal (fathers) sides of the family as is done in some languages. While this is handy for common speech, it can be frustrating to genealogist or family history researcher. For example, if you found an old family letter which wrote of "my grandmother returning to her home in Smithtown", you could not be sure whether it referred to the writers maternal or paternal grandmother. If the letter had been written in--say Swedish-- the word for "grandmother" would have been either "mormor" (mothers mother) or "farmor" (fathers mother) and it would have been clear. Who the dickens is your third cousin once removed? Now you know that he/she is your mothers third cousin, that their great-grandparents were siblings. (To check that answer, look back at the cousin diagram and imagine yourself as Ullas daughter. Tabitha, your mothers third cousin, is your third cousin once removed.) Who is your cousin-german, your sibling, your great-grandaunt?

Now you can answer all those questions presented in the opening paragraph. Hopefully the intricate nomenclature for the many and varied family relationships within a family is now more comprehendible and will aid you if you are one of the thousands of Americans personalizing history by searching out their ancestors. Relationship Chart RELATIONSHIP CHART The chart below is based on the system used by courts and most genealogical societies. Abbreviations: Gr=“Great” and Rem. = “Removed” To identify the relationship between any two relatives, first identify their common ancestor. Determine the column that shows the relationship to the common ancestor. Then determine the row that shows the relationship between the other relative and the common ancestor. The intersection of the column and row shows the relationship between the two. For example, if you are the great-grandchild of the common ancestor and the other person is also a great-grandchild, you are second cousins. As a second example, if you are the grandchild of the common ancestor and the other person is the great-grandchild, you are first cousins one generation removed, or, once removed. When the word "removed" is used to describe a relationship, it indicates that the two people are from different generations.

The words "once removed" mean that there is a difference of one generation, twice removed means that there is a two-generation difference. Here's a real example. David Fine, Lior Sheffer and Caiden Fine (above) met in New York in 2005. Lior was visiting from Israel and David and Caiden were visiting from Albuquerque, NM. They share a common ancestor as David and Lior are both great-great-great grandsons of Henach Safer. David's great-great grandfather, Yitzchak-Isaac Safer and Lior's great-great grandmother, Peshe Safer, were brother and sister. That makes David and Lior fourth cousins and Caiden and Lior fourth cousins once-removed. ******************************************************************************* Having trouble coming up with the proper term for your mother's uncle's father? Here's a guide to who's who in the family structure: Uncle and aunt - They are your parents' brothers and sisters and their spouses. You don't need any blood connection to be a full-fledged aunt or uncle. Your mother's sister's husband is not your uncle by marriage. He's your uncle, fair and square.

Niece and nephew - They are the son and daughter of your siblings and siblings-in-law. As with your uncle and aunt, they're not your nieces and nephews by marriage, they're your nieces and nephews, plain and simple, even if they're your spouse's siblings' kids and don't have a single drop of blood in common with you. First cousin, full cousin - They are the children of your parents' brothers and sisters. You and your first cousins share one set of grandparents. Double first cousins - If a pair of brothers marries a pair of sisters, their kids are not only first cousins, they're double first cousins. They have both sets of grandparents in common. Second cousins - You and the children of your parents' cousins are second cousins and share at least one great-grandparent. Your child and your cousin's child are second cousins. Third cousins - You and the children of your parents' second cousins are third cousins and share at least one great-great-grandparent, and so on with the fourth, fifth, and sixth cousins. First cousin once removed - A relationship that is removed crosses two genealogical generations. Generation refers to the order of birth, a genealogical level.

Your aunt and your mother may have been born 20 years apart, but they are still of the same generation. Your parent's first cousin is your first cousin once removed. The child of your first cousin is also your first cousin once removed. Your grandparent is that child's great-grandparent. You can do the whole "removed" thing for every category of cousins -- second cousin once removed, and so on. But by then you'll probably drive everyone completely crazy. Great or Grandaunt and granduncle - We always called grandpa's sister "great-aunt." But the experts say that terminology is incorrect. The term "grand" should be used instead to refer to the siblings of your grandparents. In-laws - They are your family by marriage. Your spouse's parents, spouses of your siblings, and spouses of your spouse's siblings. That is, your brother's wife is an in-law, but none of her siblings are. And your husband's sister's husband is your in-law, but none of his brothers are. And in-laws pretty much stop with your parents-in-law and your siblings-in-law. You are not in-laws with the parents of your sister-in-law's husband.

And the two sets of parents of a couple are not in-laws to each other either; they are the competitive parents, an entirely different category. Affinity relatives - They are your spouse's blood relatives, that is, the in-laws that are biologically related to your spouse. Birth mother, biological mother, natural mother - Terms for the biological mother of a child who has (usually) been adopted by other parents. Adoptive mother/father - Mother/father of a child who is not biologically her/his own. DISCLAIMER: THIS IS WORK IN PROGRESS. WE ARE NOT SURE THIS INFORMATION IS ENTIRELY CORRECT, AND WE KNOW IT IS INCOMPLETE. Bengali Relationships Bengali Relations : Traditional way of referring to our family members and relatives The Indian word for relative is ATTYO (as pronounced in Bengali) - the word is derived from ATTA (in Sanskrit - ATMA) or soul. ATTYO is the one with whom one has a bondage of ATTA. In India, we are very specific in describing these familial relations of our ATTYOs. It is not of our customs to refer to our relations, particularly elders, by name.

We have an intricate way of referring to different people in our families which shows both respect and affection. These references vary from language to language. Also, within the same language there are differences. For example, a Bengali of muslim faith will refer to his uncle as chacha and of Hindu faith as kaku. Here is a brief description of how in Bengali traditional Hindu families we refer to each other. Almost all relations are explicitly described using specific word that clearly identifies the person's relation in the context - whether male or female, whether a paternal or maternal relation, whether older or younger in age or whether a niece or nephew of a specific relative and so on. E.g., example, vasur is the husband's elder brother whereas nandai is husband's younger sister's husband. For the children, usually the words po and jhi for boy and girl respectively are suffixed to the relation. E.g., sister's son is bone-po, brother's daughter is bhai-jhi or brother-in-law's son is vasur-po etc. Generally, most references for elders are further suffixed by other polite words. For example, for all female relations of earlier generations are suffixed with the word ma following their relational reference, e.g.

father's elder brother's wife, Jethi becomes Jethima. Similarly, father-in-law, sosur, becomes sosurmawsai or father's sister's husband becomes pishemawsai. Elder brothers and sisters are also not called by names. Usually, they are dada and didi respectively. However, again there are several sweet variations like didibhai (sister-brother) or dadabhai (elder brother-younger brother) or dadamoni (jewel brother) etc. If one has more than one brother or sister they can be ranked by age and called mejda (second bro), sejdi (third sis), chorda (last brother) or variations like bhaidada, bhaididi etc. Cousin brothers or sisters are called by annexing da or di to their names. Again, phuldi (floral sis), rangada (fair bro) are affectionate way of calling elder cousins or even own elder siblings. If a relation comes back to settle in the town, he may be called notun-da (the new brother) or the one who has joined the army, palton-da. Similarly, there may be several aunts and uncles.

Among traditional Bengali family it is rude to even refer to an aunt by name, even if it is suffixed by the word aunt. It is customary that in case there are many aunts (or uncles) they are given some reference names e.g. bhaloma (nice mother) or sonama (golden ma). For the earlier generations again the same custom prevails rangadidu (fair grandma). It is not rare to name people by their place of residence like america dadu (the grandfather in America) or chetla-ma (the aunt from Chetla). As we have very close family ties it is not uncommon to have close interactions with second or third linages. However, the relations are very easily identifiable by reference. For example a pishtuto bhai is the father's sisters cousin or mas-sasuri is the mother-in-law's sister or one can easily refer to his say, father's maternal uncle by mamadadu. Appellation of family members for Bengali Hindu families of West Bengal Origin The following tables list all primary relations that come to my mind in day-to-day language.

Father's (baba) Family Hindi/Family relations - Wikibooks, open books for an open world Hindi/Family relations This box: view • talk • edit Family relation names in Hindi are very specific to the speaker. For example, your father's brother and your mother's brother are not both just "uncle"; you would differentiate and address them using specific terms to indicate the precise relationship. These terms can vary a bit from place to place. The following are some standard examples. The polite word जी (jii or ji) is often added as a suffix to names to denote respect. It is very common to use when referring to or especially addressing an elder, and sometimes for others depending on customs or the situation. The transliteration is in ITRANS form, which allows for an exact mapping of Devanagari characters to the Roman script.

Contents Sister — बहिन (bahin) or बहन (bahan) Sister's husband — जीजा (jiijaa) or बहनोई (bahanoii) Elder Sister — दीदी (diidii) or जीजी (jiijii) Younger Sister — छोटी बहन (chhoTii bahan) Husband's elder brother — जेठ (jeTh) Husband's younger brother — देवर (devar) Elder brother's wife — भाभी (bhaabhii) or भौजी (bhaujii) or भौजाई (bhaujaaii) Younger brother's wife — बहू (bahu) or भयो (bhayo) Wife's Sister — साली (saalii) Wife's Brother — साला (saalaa) Wife's Brother's wife — सलहज (salahaj) Husband's Sister's Husband — नन्दोई (nandoii) Wife's sister's husband — साड�

� (saaDuu) Husband's elder brother's wife — जेठानी (jeThaanii) Husband's younger brother's wife — देवरानी (devraani) Children and children-in-law[ edit ] Husband's Mother (Mother-in-law) — सास (saas) Husband's Father (Father-in-law) — ससुर (sasur) Fiancé or Fiancée —-मंगेतर (mangetar) Aunts and uncles[ edit ] Father's younger brother (uncle) — चाचा (chaachaa) or काका (kaakaa) Father's younger brother's wife (aunt) — चाची (chaachii) Father's elder brother's (Uncle) — ताऊ (taauu) or बड़े पापा (ba.De paapaa) Father's elder brother's wife (Aunt) — ताई (taai) or बड़ी माँ (ba.Dii maa.N) Father's sister (aunt) — बुआ (b

uaa) or फूफी (phuuphii) Father's sister's husband फूफा (phuuphaa) Mother's brother — मामा (maamaa)or मामू (maamuu) Mother's brother's wife — मामी (maamii) or माई (maaii) Mother's sister — मौसी (mausii) or ख़ाला (khaalaa) Mother's sister's husband — मौसा (mausaa) Nephews and nieces[ edit ] SUPPLEMENT TO GENETIC AND QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS OF GENEALOGY - NON GENETIC RELATIONSHIPS SUPPLEMENT TO GENETIC AND QUANTITATIVE ASPECTS OF GENEALOGY Next>> NON GENETIC RELATIONSHIPS (All definitions are given in italics) Apart from religious guardians such as godparents and legal guardians who act in loco parentis, there are three major causes of non-genetic family relationships: marriage, extra-marital partnerships and adoption.

Relationships by marriage include: in-laws, step relatives and spouses. In-laws These are subdivided into two types: (a) Your spouse's relatives and (b) Your relatives' spouses. Grandmother-in-law (Spouse's grandmother) Granddaughter-in-law (Grandson's wife) Exceptions to the above rule occur when there has been more than one marriage. Non-blood relatives who have been carried over from a previous marriage are known as step relatives. (See later). Only one degree of separation is allowed for in-laws. This means that your wife's brother's wife is not your sister-in-law, she is your wife's sister-in-law. In all two-way relationships it is sometimes convenient for one member, who is the primary focus of attention, to be referred to as the proband and the other to take a secondary role. This means that the relationship is looked at from the proband's point of view. For example, in an uncle - niece relationship, if the proband is the uncle, then the relationship of the secondary person to him is niece. But, if the niece is the proband then the other person is her uncle.

This may seem a trivial point but it is sometimes important to know whose stance we are taking when considering two people's relationship. The same rules apply to non-genetic relationships. In the following diagrams the proband is printed in red and the other person in green. It is interesting to consider why there are two types of the first six in-law relationships but only one type of each of the last eight. What the first six have in common is that if they had been real genetic relationships, they would have been classed as collaterals whereas the last eight have a direct relationship connotation. This means that according to the above definitions for type (a) and type (b) in-law relationships, a type (b) father-in-law would be your mother's husband and a type (a) son-in-law would be your spouse's son. Your mother's husband and your spouse's son are not true in-laws since the former is either your real father or your stepfather from your mother's second marriage and the latter is either your own son or your stepson from your spouse's first marriage.

The same reasoning applies to the remaining three pairs of in-laws giving: father's wife and spouse's daughter; grandmother's husband and spouse's grandson; grandfather's wife and spouse's granddaughter. Since we are only dealing with non-genetic relationships, it is unnecessary and would be pedantic, in this context to distinguish between the three types of sibs and uncles-nieces etc, (i.e. first degree, full and half). For the same reason uncles - nephews and grandparents - grandchildren are the widest relationships considered. Cousins are too distant to be regarded as in-laws or step relatives. In the following diagrams, to show when two people are either married or in a stable relationship, a 'token' child is inserted, where necessary, to link them together in an otherwise non-genetic situation. Although children may not actually be present in every case, their inclusion is the only way (in arrow diagrams) to indicate the true marital status of all the couples. This device does not interfere with the accurate portrayal of each non-genetic family relationship. The final point to note is that the proband can be of either sex . Only one sex is shown in the diagrams for convenience.

Figs.58 to 67 are graphic illustrations of the 14 different kinds of in-laws: Figure 59 Sister-in-law It can be seen that for the first two kinds of in-law only, type (a) can be converted into type (b) and vice versa simply by switching the role of proband to the other person in the relationship. This is because the proband and the in-law are in the same generation. For all the other in-laws, reversing the proband reverses the direction of the relationship; e.g. Father-in-law becomes son-in-law (or daughter-in-law). Figure 65 Mother-in-law and Daughter-in-law (Mother-in-law - Son-in-law) and (Father-in-law - Daughter-in-law) are the only two pairs of in-law relatives who are still not allowed to marry if either or both of their original spouses are still alive. This law was challenged recently by two such people who wanted to marry. Figure 67 Grandmother-in-law and Granddaughter-in-law All the foregoing in-law relationships are only applicable for the duration of the current marriages. After marriages have been dissolved they become ex in-laws.

Similarly, if a partner dies and the person remarries, he or she acquires a new set of in-laws. Step Relatives When a person remarries following the death of his/her original spouse (or after a divorce), then the new spouse becomes stepparent to any children from the previous marriage . The same situation occurs when non-married partners with children form new relationships. However, if both partners in the second marriage carried children over from previous marriages, then each of them would have step relationships with the children (and grandchildren) from the first two marriages. (See Figs. 72 to 75 ). With stepbrothers and stepsisters, the children from both original families have the same step relationship to each other; it simply depends on who is considered to be the proband in each case. (See Fig. 76 ). After second marriages, problems arise in deciding whether the children will reside with their father or stepfather on the one hand or with their mother or stepmother on the other. However, it is possible for all the children from both first marriages to live with the partners of the second marriage in one big family. These situations, where three groups of children are involved, are unusual for a different reason.

The children from the second marriage are half sibs to both sets of children from the first two marriages but the separate sets of children from the first two marriages are not related to each other and can legally marry. These topics were considered in the original monograph. (See here and here ). Please note that D and E in Figs. 68 and 69 are half sibs, not step relatives. In current usage, the names of step relatives are usually written as a single word without a break or hyphen (e.g. stepfather). Most dictionaries restrict the definition of step relatives to relationships between immediate family members following the remarriage of a parent. These are stepparents, stepchildren, stepbrothers and stepsisters. However, there is no logical reason why relationships following the remarriage of grandparents should not be included. For example, I have always regarded my grandmother's second husband as my stepgrandfather. Prior to the 20th century the only step relatives who were allowed to marry in the UK were stepuncles - stepnieces, stepaunts - stepnephews and stepbrothers - stepsisters.

The following definitions, supplemented by diagrams, are an attempt to rationalise and describe all the 14 possible types of step relatives. Unless otherwise stated, the word 'spouse' refers to the current spouse. Figure 76 Stepbrother and Stepsister Child of one's stepparent by a previous spouse (or partner). With serial marriages or when the same person marries several times, the situation is different. (See Figs. 77 and 78 ). To save space in the next two diagrams, not all the sex combinations are shown, and both members of each typical two-way relationship (printed in red) are named in the same diagram. Figure 77 Serial Marriages D♀ is stepmother to F♀ because C and D are currently married, but C♂ is no longer stepfather to E♂ because B and C are divorced. He could only be styled as E♂'s former stepfather. Also, A♂ has no relationship to F♀ except that of her mother's former husband. E and F are half sibs and also F and G, but E and G are unrelated; not even stepbrothers or former stepbrothers.

Thus, it is only the current spouse of your parent who can have the title of stepparent to you. Figure 78 Serial Marriages to the Same Person In this situation D♀ is stepmother to both E♂ and F♀ but C♀ is only former stepmother to E♂. This is because the current marriage is between A♂ and D♀. E, F and G are all half sibs of each other. When your spouse has previously been married several times, you are stepparent to all the children from his/her earlier marriages. The next four step relatives: stepuncles, stepaunts, stepnephews and stepnieces; are less clearly defined than the others. This is because they can arise from either the remarriage of parents or the remarriage of grandparents. This, together with their remoteness from the nuclear family, is probably the reason why they are not usually included in lists of step relatives. However, to bring the numbers of step relatives in line with in-laws, both forms are depicted in Figs. 79 and 80 . Parent's second (current) spouse's grandchild. (i.e. Your stepparent's grandchild).

Marriage and Inheritance Laws for Step Relatives and In-laws In the UK before 1907, none of the above in-law pairs of relatives and only some of the step relative pairs were allowed to marry. All in-laws and step relatives can now marry with certain restrictions: (1) You can only marry your former stepparent or stepgrandparent (of the opposite sex) if you are over 21 and, under the age of 18, were not brought up in the same household as your step relative. If your parent has been married several times this rule applies to all your former stepparents and stepgrandparents. Conversely, it also applies when a stepparent has remarried and has more than one set of former stepchildren. (2) You can only marry your former mother-in-law or former father-in-law if you are over 21 and the spouses of both you and your former parent-in-law are both deceased. If either of the two spouses are still alive, because of divorce, then the marriage is illegal. If either of you have been married several times then this law applies to all your former mothers- and fathers-in-law and former sons- and daughters-in-law.

Marriages between in-laws and between step relatives can produce some very complex relationships, both genetic and non-genetic, especially if they are across generations The situation with intestate wills is that in-laws and step relatives are not included in the list of beneficiaries. Spouses and Partners Spouse is the general term for husband or wife and means that the couple have undergone an official marriage ceremony. In Western countries it is illegal to have more than one spouse but some Eastern and African countries allow polygamy where more than one spouse is permitted. This usually takes the form of polygyny where a man has more than one wife. Polyandry, where a woman has more than one husband is less common. It used to be practiced in Tibet before that country was annexed by China. With polyandry, there may be some uncertainty about the exact male parentage and sibling relationships of the children. This is less of a problem with polygyny since it is usually easier to identify a child's mother than its father. Since about 1960, the practice of having children outside marriage has gradually become accepted in Western society, where it is no longer regarded as abnormal or immoral.

This has to be recognised in any discussion about relationships and the word partners is now sometimes used to cover married couples as well as unmarried ones to avoid discrimination. Similarly, the word, illegitimate, is no longer used as a derogatory label. For unmarried people living together in a stable relationship, there is no reason why the terms in-laws and step relatives should not be used in the same sense as for married couples. The only difference is that the word partner replaces spouse and although in-law is not really accurate, the alternative out-law has other connotations! These changes have not affected the meaning of all the true genetic relationships such as: father, mother, son, daughter, brother and sister etc. which are still based on the same fundamental biological links. In all the diagrams, these are shown as true genetic pathways connecting family members. Adoption The relationship between adoptive parents and their legally adopted children is straightforward and does not need elaboration. The rules for marriage within these non-genetic families are quite clear: 1.Adoptive parents can not marry their legally adopted children. 2. Children who are adopted by the same adoptive parents can legally marry each other provided they are not on the forbidden marriage list.

This would normally only include: full brothers and sisters, half brothers and sisters, uncles and nieces, aunts and nephews, half uncles and half nieces and half aunts and half nephews. The reason for including the last four is that although uncles and nieces etc. are from different generations, they can be of similar ages. (See here ). The same rules apply if natural and adopted children occur in the same family. The natural children can only marry the adopted ones if they are not closely genetically related. 3. Children who are adopted by different adoptive parents are also unable to marry if they are genetically closely related and on the above forbidden list. An adopted child has the same legal rights of inheritance, in an intestate situation, as the adoptive parents' other natural children. However, adoption removes any rights the adoptee may have had to his or her natural parents' estate. (Elmhirst, 2007). Quantitative Measures and Coding of Non-genetic Family Relationships By definition, the Coefficient of Relationship (R) between non-genetic family relatives is normally zero. However, if there has been any legal (or illegal) inbreeding, this may not be the case.

Also, if adoptive parents adopt children of their own blood relatives, R will have a measurable value. In the section on the coding of relationships in the main monograph here examples are given of in-laws, step relatives, spouses, adoptive parents and adopted children, where there are double relationships combining both genetic and non-genetic components. Finally, coding for all types of in-laws, step relatives, spouses and relatives through adoption is given in the main monograph here . In the case of stable partnerships outside marriage, a new code is now required. I suggest the use of Pm and Pf when referring to male and female committed partners who are not currently married. In the foregoing discussions I have deliberately avoided gay partnerships and marriage. With the institution of same-sex marriage, this now has to be addressed. Any new codes have to be in the same format as the previous ones, which are all one-way; i.e. as viewed from the other member (the proband) of a two-way relationship.

To accommodate this restriction and also distinguish them from the codes for conventional partnerships I suggest the following: Marriage Relationship Terms Relationship Terms Copyright © 1996–2017 by Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems Summary: The English language has quite an array of relationship or kinship terms, which can baffle even native English speakers. What’s the difference between a second cousin and first cousin once removed, or stepsister and half sister, let alone ortho-cousin and cross-cousin? This page demystifies some common and uncommon terms, with diagrams. Contents: What’s New Introduction Different languages have different terms for relationships, and even distinguish different relationships. For instance, Swedish calls your mother’s brother “morbror” and your father’s brother “farbror”, where Danish has “onkel” for both, and English has “ uncle ”. (In Latin they were “avunculus” and “patruus”.) On the other hand, English makes some distinctions that other languages do not. Your daughter-in-law and your stepdaughter are both your “belle-fille” in French.

And according to the Encyclopædia Britannica , Polynesian languages use the same words for male and female cousins as for brothers and sisters. Even native English speakers can be confused by some of our relationship terms. A friend asked me to help him figure out what relation he was to his mother’s aunt’s great-grandson. After we had worked that out (see Example 2 ), he suggested others might be interested. What follows is an expanded and more general form of our discussion. In English, three sets of terms seem to cause the most difficulty: cousin , in-law , and “half” or “step” relations . Just to make things messy, each of these terms can correctly be used for several different relationships. Vocabulary: In discussing relationships, phrases like “brother or sister” and “son or daughter” come up again and again. Here are standard gender-neutral terms that I’ll use to shorten the following discussion: sibling = brother or sister (Some dictionaries call two individuals siblings if they have one or both parents in common. This would include the relationships of half brother and half sister as well as full brother and sister.

In this document, I’ll use the word “sibling” in its more restricted meaning: an individual who has the same two parents as you.) spouse = husband or wife child = son or daughter (even if an adult) parent = mother or father The Basics Before getting into “third cousin once removed”, it’s good to understand the common terms. Please have a look at the following table. H = W | ----------------------- | | B0(M)=Z0(F) C0(F) | | B1 C1 | | B2 C2 | | etc. etc. H and W (a husband and wife) are the common ancestors of this family. B0 and C0 are the son and daughter (children) of H and W, and H and W are the father and mother (parents) of B0 and C0. B1 and C1 are the grandchildren (grandsons and gradddaughters) of H and W, and H and W are therefore the grandparents (grandfather and grandmother) of B1 and C1. Aunt, Uncle, Niece, Nephew There are standard words for collateral relationships, where neither person is directly descended from the other.

B0 and C0 are brother and sister, or more generically siblings. Going down one generation, on one side only, we have four common relationships: B0 is C1‘s uncle. Most English speakers use “uncle” for any of four relationships: father’s brother, mother’s brother, father’s sister’s husband, or mother’s sister’s husband. C0 is B1‘s aunt. Again, “aunt” in English could mean your father’s sister, mother’s sister, father’s brother’s wife, or mother’s brother’s wife. Most people would say Z0 is also C1‘s aunt. C1 is the niece or nephew of B0; most people would say C1 is also the niece or nephew of Z0. Children of your aunt or uncle are your first cousins. More generally, B1 and C1, and all their descendants, are cousins to each other. A separate section below details all the words used to describe cousin relationships. Godparents Many children have godparents chosen for them by their parents, for example in Christian denominations at the time of baptism.

While the godparents are not necessarily relatives, in some families they stand in the position of relatives to the child, and may even be addressed as “aunt” and “uncle”. The godparents, in turn, may speak of their godson or goddaughter, and collectively godsons and goddaughters would be godchildren. Honorary Aunts and Uncles In some sections of the country, it is common for children to call their parents’ friends “Aunt Flo” and “Uncle Ed”. Perhaps because I grew up with this, it has always seemed charming to me: more respectful than first-naming them, much warmer than “Mr. and Mrs. Hendricks”. Terms Involving “Great” The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Third Edition, 1992) gives sixteen definitions of the adjective “great”. The one that concerns us here is great adj. 15. Being one generation removed from the relative specified. Often used in combination: a great-granddaughter. Apply this definition to B2 and C2. They are one generation below B1 and C1, who are H and W’s grandchildren. Therefore B2 and C2 are H and W’s great-grandchildren.

H and W in turn are the great-grandparents (great-grandfather and great-grandmother) of B2 and C2. If we drew the family tree another generation down, B3 and C3 would be the great-great-grandchildren of H and W, and so on. The collateral relationships can be “great”, too. Since B0 and Z0 are the aunt and uncle of C1, they are the great-aunt and great-uncle of C2. That makes C2 their great-niece or great-nephew. (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Third Edition, 1992) says that the unhyphenated spellings “great aunt” etc. are equally acceptable, and lists grandaunt etc. as less common forms.) Unfortunately, language is not logical: there are no great-cousins. Instead, the terminology is cousins so many times removed , as explained below. Terms Involving “In-law” There are several of these, but most give little difficulty to native speakers. Any relationship term ending with -in-law indicates that the relationship is by marriage and not by blood; in other words, one of us is a blood relative of the other’s spouse.

If I want to refer collectively to the blood relatives of my spouse, I can call them “my in-laws". Sometimes this term means just my spouse’s parents; other times it can mean any group of my spouse’s relatives. In-law relationship terms are always written with hyphens, by the way. And the plural is formed on the part before the “-in-law”; for example, “brothers-in-law” and not “brother-in-laws”. The only exception is the general term “in-laws”, which is always plural. Father-, Mother-, Son-, and Daughter-in-Law My father-in-law is the father of my spouse; my mother-in-law is the mother of my spouse. If my own parents get divorced and remarry, their new spouses are my stepparents , not my mother-in-law and father-in-law. The husband of my daughter is my son-in-law; the wife of my son is my daughter-in-law. If my spouse has children from a previous marriage, those are my stepchildren , not sons-in-law or daughters-in-law. I am their stepfather or stepmother , not their father-in-law or mother-in-law.

In these days of more fluid relationships, it is becoming more common to say “daughter-in-law” of the woman my son or daughter has lived with for a long time. On the one hand, that’s a nice way of recognizing long-term relationships that don’t involve a traditional marriage. On the other hand, it’s a bit confusing to use the term “in-LAW” for relationships that are not recognized by law. Brother-in-Law, Sister-in-Law These are the only really tricky in-law terms. “Brother-in-law” and “sister-in-law” each have two or three meanings. All authorities agree on the first two meanings, but there is some controversy about the third (and I personally don’t accept it). My sister-in-law could be: the sister of my spouse, or the wife of my brother, or the wife of my spouse’s brother. (This meaning is accepted by The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Third Edition, 1992), but not by all authorities.) Similarly, my brother-in-law could be the brother of my spouse, or the husband of my sister, or the husband of my spouse’s sister.

(This meaning is accepted by The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (Third Edition, 1992), but not by all authorities.) Consider the following example: Al marries Betty; Betty has a sister Bonnie, who marries Calvin. Harry = Sally | + -------------------- | | Al = Betty Bonnie = Calvin The siblings-in-law: Al is Bonnie’s brother-in-law (definition 2), and Bonnie is Al’s sister-in-law (definition 1); Betty is Calvin’s sister-in-law (definition 1), and Calvin is Betty’s brother-in-law (definition 2). So much is agreed. The question is, are Al and Calvin brothers-in-law (definition 3)? Someone once wrote to Ann Landers, the advice columnist, describing this situation. Ann replied: “You are no relation; you are just two men who married sisters.” Though I agree with Ann on this one, I admit that it’s awkward for Al to refer to Calvin as “my wife’s brother-in-law” or “my sister-in-law’s husband”. Probably that’s why Al might refer to Calvin as “my brother-in-law”. Terms Involving “Cousin” Children of the same two parents are siblings, brothers and sisters.

(If they have only one parent in common the relationship needs the modifier “half”; see below ). Other relatives who are descended from a common ancestor are generally called cousins. This section explains more specific terms for various degrees of the cousin relationship. Please refer to this family tree for the following discussion. H = W | ----------------------- | | B0.......siblings......C0 | | B1....first cousins....C1 | | B2...second cousins....C2 | | B3....third cousins....C3 | | B4...fourth cousins....C4 | | etc. etc. H and W are the common ancestors (husband and wife); B0 and C0 are their children, B1 and C1 are their grandchildren, B2 and C2 are their great-grandchildren , and so on. First Cousins, Second Cousins, and So On B1 and C1 are called first cousins. Because their parents (B0 and C0) were siblings, they are the first generation below siblings. Another way to look at it is that B1 and C1 each have two pairs of grandparents, of which they share one pair (H and W).

(First cousins are sometimes called cousins german, or simply “cousins”.) Next consider B2 and C2. Their respective parents, B1 and C1, are first cousins. B2 and C2 are therefore second cousins: they are the second generation below the level of siblings. Each number in front of the word “cousin” corresponds to going another generation down both sides of the family tree. These cousinly relations all assume that the generations trace back to (full) siblings (B0 and C0 in the diagram), who had both parents (H and W) in common. If B0 and C0 had only one parent in common, they are half siblings , and all the cousinly relations below them would be preceded with the word “half”, according to William Addams Reitwiesner’s article “First Cousin Second Cousin” in alt.talk.royalty on 24 June 2000, archived here . Though the terms exist, they are not used very often in ordinary conversation about one’s own family. Types of First Cousins please click to donate! Because this article helps you, please donate at OakRoadSystems.com/donate.

First cousins can be classified two ways: patrilateral or matrilateral, and cross- or ortho-cousins. While ortho-cousins are children of two brothers or two sisters; cross-cousins are children of a sister and brother. Someone is your patrilateral cousin if you are first cousins through your father (and your father’s brother or sister); someone is your matrilateral cousin if you are first cousins through your mother (and your mother’s brother or sister). Note that these terms depend on the sexes of the parents, not of the cousins. A table and some examples should make the terms clear: Zebulon = Yetta William = Virginia | | ------------------------------- ----------- | | | | | Abe = Beth Cassie = Doug Ed = Felicia Georgina = Hank | | | | Jill John Jack James Jack’s first cousins can be categorized as follows: Jill is Jack’s patrilateral ortho-cousin (related through Jack’s father Ed and Ed’s brother Abe). Jack is also Jill’s patrilateral ortho-cousin because the relationship goes from Jill, through her father Abe, through his brother Ed, to Jack.

John is Jack’s patrilateral cross-cousin (related through Jack’s father Ed and Ed’s sister Cassie). But Jack is John’s matrilateral cross-cousin because the relationship is through John’s mother and then through her brother. James is Jack’s matrilateral ortho-cousin (related through Jack’s mother Felicia and Felicia’s sister Georgina). Jack is also James’s matrilateral ortho-cousin. (This section was adapted from “Cousin Marriage” in the 1967 Encyclopædia Britannica. ) “Removed” Cousins Now consider B1 and C2. What relation are they? C2 is the child of C1, and C1 and B1 are first cousins. Therefore B1 and C2 are called first cousins once removed, the most common example of a relationship designated removed.. The “once removed” means that one of the two relatives is one generation removed from being a first cousin with the other. Continuing, C3 is the grandchild of C1, who is B1‘s first cousin, so B1 and C3 are first cousins twice removed. Each “remove” corresponds to going another generation down one side of the family tree.

The word “removed” is used only when the relationship involves going down the family tree, to later generations. For instance, B2 and C4 are second cousins twice removed, not fourth cousins twice removed. Example 1: What relation to you is Joe, your mother’s cousin’s great-grandson? Answer: In the chart above, the first cousins B1 and C1 must be your mother and her cousin. (If a relationship is just stated as “cousin”, usually that means “first cousin”.) You are then B2, the child of your mother. Your mother’s cousin is C1, and her great-grandson Joe would be C4, three generations below her. You (B2) are second cousin to C2; Joe is twice removed, or two generations below C2. Thus your mother’s [first] cousin’s great-grandson is your second cousin twice removed—and of course you are also his second cousin twice removed. Example 2: A friend asked me to help him figure out what relationship he was to his mother’s aunt’s great-grandson. On the above chart , you’d place my friend at B2, his mother at B1, and her aunt at C0.

Therefore the aunt’s great-grandson is at C3. My friend B2 and his relative C3 are second cousins once removed. A Little Cousinly Algebra For those among you who like algorithms, the idea is that in the phrase “Nth cousins R times removed”, you go up R generations in the longer branch to get to “Nth cousins”; then you go up N generations in both branches to get to siblings. Another way to look at it is that you go N generations up the short branch of the tree, cross over to a sibling, then go N+R generations down the long branch. Terms Involving “Half” and “Step” These terms apply when parents remarry. Sometimes they are used interchangeably, but they have distinct and well-defined meanings. The key distinction is that half siblings have one parent in common but not both; stepsiblings have no parents in common. I’ll use the diagram below to illustrate these relationships. Mark and Sally had a son named John, and Harry and Sue had a daughter named Amanda. Mark and Sue died (or the marriages ended in divorce). Harry met Sally; they married, and had a daughter named Amelia.

Mark = (1) Sally (2) = (2) Harry (1) = Sue (1958) (1968) (1957) | | | | | | | | | John Amelia Amanda (1960- ) (1970- ) (1961- ) Step Relations When a parent remarries, the new spouse is the stepfather or stepmother of any children from the previous marriage. For instance, Harry is the father of Amanda and Amelia and stepfather of John; Sally is the mother of John and Amelia and stepmother of Amanda. The children from a previous marriage are stepsons and stepdaughters (generically, stepchildren). John is Harry’s stepson and Amanda is Sally’s stepdaughter. By the way, you are no relation to your stepparent’s previous spouse. John, who is Harry’s stepson, might refer to Sue as “my stepfather’s ex-wife”, or simply “my stepfather’s ex”. (If he was hoping for Christmas presents, he might call her “Mom”!) You are my stepbrother or stepsister if we have no parents in common but our parents have married each other.

There are two ways you could be my stepsister: If my mother marries a second time, and her new husband (my new stepfather) already has a daughter from a previous marriage, that daughter is my stepsister because one of her parents is married to one of my parents. If my father marries a second time, and his new wife already has a daughter, that daughter is again my stepsister. A similar rule gives the two ways for you to be my stepbrother. In the diagram, John is Amanda’s stepbrother and Amanda is John’s stepsister. They have no parents in common, but John’s mother Sally is now married to Amanda’s father Harry. Amelia is not stepsister but half sister to both John and Amanda, because she shares one parent with each. Half Relations You are my half brother or half sister if we have one parent in common but not both. For instance, if my parents divorce or my father dies and my mother remarries, her new husband is my stepfather. If she and my stepfather have a daughter, that daughter is my half sister because we have the same mother but different fathers.

The same is true if my father remarries and has a daughter with his new wife: that daughter is my half sister. In the diagram, Amelia is John’s half sister and John is Amelia’s half brother, through their common mother Sally. Similarly, Amelia and Amanda are half sisters through their common father Harry. Do you see the difference? If you are the child of my stepparent, you will be either my stepsibling or my half sibling. “Half” means you are the child of my parent and my stepparent; “step” means you are the child of my stepparent and someone else (not my parent). Half siblings have one parent in common; stepsiblings have no parents in common. By the way, “stepbrother” and “stepsister” are always written as single words, without hyphens. “Half brother” and “half sister” are each written as two words (source: The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language [Third Edition, 1992]). Isn’t English a strange language? Consanguinity, or Degree of Kinship Degrees of consanguinity are used to compare the closeness of relationships in a legal context.

For instance, if a person dies without leaving a will, his estate will be divided according to a legally prescribed order. Also, incest taboos prevent people marrying who are too closely related. Consanguinity can be lineal, where one person is an ancestor of the other, or collateral, where the two people have a common ancestor but neither one is an ancestor of the other. Computing lineal consanguinity is easy: how many generations of descent are there? Thus a father and son are related in the first degree, a grandfather and grandson in the second degree, and so on. H = W | ------------- | | B0(M) C0 | | B1 C1(F) | | B2 C2 | | etc. etc Collateral consanguinity is trickier, and in fact there are two main systems: The Roman method or civil law counts up from one person to the common ancestor, then down to the other person. On this system, B1 and C1 (first cousins) are related in the fourth degree (up from B1 to B0, to H and W, then down to C0 and C1: four transitions in total).

B0 and C1 (uncle and niece) are related in the third degree. The Germanic method was used by Catholic canon law until 1983 and also historically by English and American law. It simply counts the length of the longer branch. On this system uncle and niece (such as B0 and C1) are related in the second degree, exactly the same as first cousins (such as B1 and C1). (The above draws somewhat on François Velde’s Usenet article “Degrees” in alt.talk.royalty [28 Oct 2003, archived here ], and the 1911 Britannica article “Consanguinity”, formerly available at 1911encyclopedia.org. Recent editions of the Britannica go into computation of consanguinity on the basis of shared DNA. On that basis great-grandparent and great-grandchild are related in the same degree as first cousins, because statistically each relationship involves 1/8 shared DNA.) Life Changes, Relationship Changes The terms given above have a long tradition behind them, but they came into use when society was a lot less mobile than it is today.

Professional genealogists do it with diagrams and symbols, but how do various life events change the terms the rest of us use for relationships? Adoption: The rule here is simple: Unless you’re a member of a European ruling house, someone who’s adopted is every bit as much a relative as someone who was born into the family. Whether your sister adopts a little girl or gives birth to one, that little girl is your niece. Whether or not little Jennifer knows she was adopted, you are her Aunt Helen and she is your niece. You wouldn’t refer to her as your adoptive niece, implying she’s not your “real” niece. What about parents? Most adoptions occur when the children are very young. Their adoptive parents are most likely the only ones they know, and are usually referred to as mother and father. The woman who actually gave birth to the child is called, logically enough, the birth mother. Death: For instance, if your husband dies, are his sister’s children still your nieces and nephews? Almost everyone would agree that they are. They’re not going to stop calling you “Aunt Helen”, presumably. Divorce: This is the trickiest area.

If you and your husband divorce, obviously his mother is still their grandmother, but is she still your mother-in-law? Some people would say yes; some would say no. Judith Martin (in Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior ; Atheneum, 1982; pages 565–6) favors some creative ambiguity, especially in everyday speech. Particularly if you are on good terms with them, whatever your relationship with your ex-husband, there’s no reason you can’t continue to call his children your nieces and nephews or why they shouldn’t go on calling you Aunt Helen. If you need to make the relationship clear, you can always use a few extra words. My ex-husband’s stepbrother” is much more precise and accurate than “my brother-in-law”, but if you and the latter are on good terms there’s nothing wrong with speaking of each other as brother- and sister-in-law. The one exception, of course, is that divorced spouses can no longer refer to each other as “husband” and “wife” but must use “ex-husband” and “ex-wife” (informally, just “ex”), no matter how amicable the divorce.

Remarriage: Here, as with divorce, there’s no hard and fast rule. Depending on the connection you feel with the people in question, you could describe them as “my nieces and nephews” or “my first husband’s nieces and nephews”. Of course common sense comes into it too. “Wouldn’t it be rather sweet”, Miss Manners asks, “to hear one grown man refer to another as ‘the father of my children’?” Well, maybe; but “my wife’s first husband” is a lot more clear. Index of Terms word choice - Name for the relationship of wife’s sister’s husband - English Language & Usage Stack Exchange Name for the relationship of wife’s sister’s husband up vote 10 down vote favorite 2 Is there a name for the relationship of my wife’s sister’s husband in English? Or in case of a lady, what is the relationship of her husband’s brother’s wife called? There are words for these relationships in Indian languages like Tamil. I have heard instances of the words “co-brother” and “co-sister” being used in India. But, I strongly suspect that these usages are Indian.

See also Paucity of kinship terms in English – Mitch Oct 4 '12 at 16:25 @Mitch Thanks. That is the kind of discussion I was looking for. – MediumOne Oct 5 '12 at 9:39 I suspect they are, too - you'll be having co-son and co-son's mate next! Seriously, you are talking about in-laws here. From Wikipedia: A brother-in-law (plural brothers-in-law) is the brother of one's spouse, the husband of one's sibling, the husband of one's spouse's sibling [relevant in the first case you mention], or the brother of one's sibling's spouse. You can work out what sister-in-law covers. Oh, and the perhaps unfamiliar terms used by Wikipedia: sibling - a brother or sister spouse - a husband or wife ... that is, they are hypernyms (like cutlery for knives, forks, ...) 5 Ah! Disappointing. :-) I was expecting a new word to come up. I suppose English is less specific about relationships when compared to Indian languages. Tamil, an Indian language, has different words for the relationships of father's brother and mother's brother.

English uses the word "uncle" for both. The same generalization applies in this case well. – MediumOne Sep 26 '12 at 8:15 2 In English, the terms maternal and paternal are sometimes added to indicate from which side of the family the relationship derives. This is more common with grandparents, as in my maternal grandfather (my mother's father). Also, with aunts and uncles, there is generally no linguistic distinction as to whether the relationship is based on blood or marriage. – bib Sep 26 '12 at 13:12 3 "To the poet, the distinction between 'father' and "grandfather" is so minimal that the two terms are virtual synonyms, interchangeable for the sake of his metrics. ... Differences between father figures just did not matter that much yet in Anglo-Saxon England, a situation reinforced by everyday life, where grandfathers, fathers, uncles, brothers, and their male progeny ate, worked, fought, and attended meetings ...

Goody interprets such blurring of some distinctions and sharpening of others as a function of the universal incest taboo, a determining factor in kinship arrangements." – Talia Ford Sep 15 '13 at 1:27 @Medium, some languages are more realistic than others with kinship terms, and others are just insane. Consider, for example, the perplexingly intricate system of Chinese kinship terms where 襟弟 jīndì means either “wife’s younger brother’s husband” or “wife’s [younger or older] brother’s husband if he is younger than me”, and 族妹 zúmèi is either “great-granddaughter of your paternal great-grandfather’s younger brother”, or “great-granddaughter of your paternal great-grandfather’s [younger or older] brother, if she is younger than me”. English just falls at the other end of the spectrum. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Mar 26 '14 at 22:14 @JanusBahsJacquet Chinese is indeed on the other end of the spectrum compared to English!

Just to confirm - did you mean "wife’s younger brother’s husband" or is it a term for "wife’s younger brother’s partner"? – MediumOne Mar 27 '14 at 7:55 4 In my neck of the woods, it's quite common to refer to all the relatives-of-relatives of your own generation as "in-laws". In fact, I will sometimes call my sister's husband's sister my "sister-in-law". I do balk at extending that to said sister's husband's sister's husband, though. (Thankfully, they live on the other side of the pond, so I don't have too much occasion to try to refer to them by anything other than name.) – Marthaª Oct 26 '12 at 16:36 2 @Colin Fine: broth·er-in-law (brr-n-lô) n. pl. broth·ers-in-law (brrz-) 1. The brother of one's spouse. 2. The husband of one's sister. 3. The husband of the sister of one's spouse.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 29 '12 at 21:49 1 I stand corrected. It is outside my experience - perhaps a UK/US difference? – Colin Fine Dec 2 '12 at 11:21 6 My wife says her sister's husband is my-brother-in law, and we're in the UK. And I never argue. ( :-) ) To be honest, it's easier calling him Peter. – Edwin Ashworth Dec 2 '12 at 22:46

Question: What is the closest relation that your father's sister's sister in law can be to you?
Answer: Mother