Cousins Explained - Family Tree

parents	child	g-child	gg-child	ggg-child	gggg-child
child	brother/ sister	nephew/ niece	g-nephew/ g-niece	gg-nephew/ gg-niece	ggg-nephew/ ggg-niece
g-child	uncle/ aunt	first cousin	first cousin once removed	first cousin twice removed	first cousin thrice removed
gg-child	g-uncle/ g-aunt	first cousin once removed	second cousin	second cousin once removed	second cousin twice removed
ggg-child	gg-uncle/ gg-aunt	first cousin twice removed	second cousin once removed	third cousin	third cousin once removed
gggg-child	ggg-uncle/ ggg-aunt	first cousin thrice removed	second cousin twice removed	third cousin once removed	fourth cousin

The parents represent the common ancestors you have with your relative. Count across the top row until you reach your generation. Now count down this column until you reach your relative's generation. This gives you your relationship to your relative. If you have only one common ancestor with your relative (perhaps this ancestor had multiple marriages), then the same chart applies but the relationships are half blood instead of full blood. In general, the person in the first row is the ***** of the person in the first column. ***** stands for the appropriate table entry, eg. sister, uncle, second cousin, etc. Example : Suppose I want to find out my relationship to the son of my grandmother's brother. Then the common ancestors that we share are my great-grandparents which are his grandparents. (I am assuming a full blood relationship). Therefore, reading from the chart we find that

parents	child	g-child	ME!
child	brother/ sister	nephew/ niece	g-nephew/ g-niece
RELATIVE!	uncle/ aunt	first cousin	first cousin once removed

I am the first cousin once removed of this relative!

I hope this clears things up!