Cousin Chart Explained with Examples | EdrawMax Online (2025)

1. What is a Cousin Chart?

A cousin chart, also known as a cousin relationship chart or cousin tree, is a visual representation that helps illustrate the relationships between different cousins in a family. It is a helpful tool for understanding and navigating the complexities of extended family connections.

In a cousin chart, individuals are typically arranged in a hierarchical structure based on their generational level and the degree of kinship. The chart usually starts with a common ancestor at the top, and then branches out to show the different generations and the relationships between cousins.

If the kids belong to the same grandparent so that the generation gap between a grandparent and grandchildren is only one generation, i.e., the grandparent children, then the kids besides their siblings are in the relation of the first cousin.

A sibling is not your cousin, although they share the same grandparents. But, in the concept of the first cousin, you have to keep a generation gap of one parent in your mind. Or, in simple words, you can say that the first cousin shares a single grandparent, and they are the second generation of their grandparent.

2. What is a Second, Third, or Fourth Cousin?

Suppose you have directly jumped into this section of the article. In that case, you must again revert to the first section in which we have explained the concept of the first cousin because without knowing the idea of the first cousin, you will never be able to understand who your second, third, or fourth cousin is. In this section, you will gain knowledge of other variants of cousinhood other than the first cousin, so read carefully.

In the first section, we have pointed out that you have to count the generation gap between you and the grandparent you are sharing. If the generation gap between you and the grandparent is of two generations, you and your cousin are second cousins. Likewise, if the generation gap between you and your shared grandparent is three generations, you and your corresponding cousin are the third cousins. In the same way, if the generation gap between a cousin and a grandparent is four generations, then you and your corresponding cousin are the fourth cousins.

3. What about a Cousin “Once Removed”?

Commonly, cousins share the same grandparent's lineage, but they are still called different cousins. For example, the grandparent would be a great grandparent for cousin A, but for cousin B, the grandparent would be a great, great grandparent.

Here the concept of cousin once removed originates. Cousin once removed means that you are separated from your cousin by one generation. The number before "remove" determines how many generations you are separated from.

Let us explain this concept with the help of an example. You can take it like the people who are your parent's first, second, or third cousins are also your first, second, and third cousins, but "once removed." Your grandparents' first, second, and third cousins are also your first, second, and third cousins, but twice removed. In other words, the child of your first cousin would be your first cousin once removed, and the relationship flows like this.

4. How to Organize Your Cousins with Cousin Chart?

This section will tell you how to map the cousinhood efficiently. You need some knowledge about your family and a little brain work. Let's get started. Let's start building from an analogy. Suppose two cousins Abraham and Moses want to know the degree of cousinhood between them.

Identify the most recent grandparent

Both Moses and Abraham start by identifying their most recent common grandparent, supposing that grandparent is Joshua.

Identify the relation with that grandparent

After identifying the common most recent grandparent, Abraham and Moses will determine each person's relationship with their ancestor. Abraham realized that Joshua was his great-great-grandparent, and Moses realized that Joshua was his fourth-great-grandfather.

Equalize all the cousins

Now, both Abraham and Moses will equalize the cousins in the order in which one is closest to the common ancestor. For example, balancing them relevant to Abraham's level will make them third cousins.

Identify the "removed"

They identified those two "greats, " making Abraham and Moses' third cousins twice removed. Each "removal" denotes one generation of difference between the two.

5. Online Cousin Chart Maker

Identifying the degree of cousinhood is challenging and vulnerable to multiple errors, so you have to choose a great solution to draw these types of diagrams. We recommend our users use an application called EdrawMax Online developed by Wondershare. The application makes it easy for the users to make diagrams with the efficient functionality of drag-and-drop. This functionality makes users draw their complex charts in minutes instead of hours.

EdrawMax is perfect because,

6. Key Takeaways

Now, you have a piece of deep knowledge about cousinhood and cousion charts. Your concept will become more apparent if you make the diagrams related to the idea. We recommend our readers use EdrawMax Online. The application has been in demand since the beginning of the remote working. The application has all the tools and features developed to help you make diagrams ideally.