Family relationships

[Genuine Article]

Help me figure this out. My half-uncle is going to have a baby, so what relationship am I to this baby, my half-uncle to my kid, and our kids to each other?

[Portia]

Help me figure this out. My half-uncle is going to have a baby, so what relationship am I to this baby, my half-uncle to my kid, and our kids to each other?

So your parent and this guy were half-siblings? Were they raised together?

[Katya]

Hmm. Well, if he was your full uncle, his baby would be your (first) cousin, he would be your kid's great uncle, and your kid and his kid would be first cousins once removed. "Half uncle" isn't a very common term, to say nothing of terms like "half cousin," "half great uncle," or "half first cousin once removed," but they'll do as highly technical descriptions of the relationships.

[Genuine Article]

So your parent and this guy were half-siblings? Were they raised together?

No, my mom's parents had four kids, got divorced, and my grandpa raised them. Then when all his kids were grown he remarried and had four more kids. They're roughly the same age as my older siblings, in their mid-thirties or so. I didn't meet any of them, grandpa included, until about ten years ago when we took a family vacation to Florida.

The funny thing is, a few years ago two of them got married within a few months of each other, and I thought how nice it was that my grandpa's kids were getting around to getting married, because now he would finally have some grandkids. Then I remembered that he already has grandkids. I'm his grandkid. He has 19 grandkids and 10 great-grandkids already. But this will be the first grandkid for his wife Paula, which is nice.

Hmm. Well, if he was your full uncle, his baby would be your (first) cousin, he would be your kid's great uncle, and your kid and his kid would be first cousins once removed.

Thanks Katya! It's the removed business that trips me up with these things.