Relative question

[LaRascasse]

I am writing a story and need some way for my main character to call someone. This someone is the daughter of her grandfather's younger brother.

Technically the relationship is second cousin once removed, but that doesn't translate well into dialogue.

For instance, if it was her own grandfather's daughter, she could say "Aunt Gwen" The person is at the same generation as an Aunt would be, but on a different branch.

I'm not sure if "Aunt" works well into this case. Is there another way?

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I could be wrong, but I gather Finnish could deal with that relationship in one word. We are more constrained in English.

If the precise relationship matters - if - then you are going to have to spell it out. As to how the two individuals address each other, that's really up to you. Customs vary in real life; some might say 'Aunt Mary', some might just say 'Mary'. Some societies, very choosy about such, might once have actually had them saying, 'Cousin Mary'. How you play it is your call.

 

[LaRascasse]

I could be wrong, but I gather Finnish could deal with that relationship in one word. We are more constrained in English.

If the precise relationship matters - if - then you are going to have to spell it out. As to how the two individuals address each other, that's really up to you. Customs vary in real life; some might say 'Aunt Mary', some might just say 'Mary'. Some societies, very choosy about such, might once have actually had them saying, 'Cousin Mary'. How you play it is your call.

Aunt Gwen is my fallback in case I don't come up with anything better. In Hindi, there are exact ways to address "Xth cousin Y removed", but sadly not here

 

[NotWise]

I am writing a story and need some way for my main character to call someone. This someone is the daughter of her grandfather's younger brother.

Technically the relationship is second cousin once removed, but that doesn't translate well into dialogue.

For instance, if it was her own grandfather's daughter, she could say "Aunt Gwen" The person is at the same generation as an Aunt would be, but on a different branch.

I'm not sure if "Aunt" works well into this case. Is there another way?

My grandmother's younger sister had twin sons. My family called them cousins -- they were, after all, my father's cousins, and that was the main relationship -- but we more often called them by name. They weren't "cousin Roger" or "cousin Robert," they were Roger and Robert.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I think the key thing is whether or not you really need to spell it out. Sometimes we give so much information for background that the foreground is driven underground.

 

[oggbashan]

I have relations like that.

They are all 'cousin' or if of an older generation 'Mother's (or Father's) cousin.

We know the exact relationship but cousin does for normal references.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

Technically the relationship is second cousin once removed, but that doesn't translate well into dialogue.

In my family, we call all of them cousins, or just by their first names. My cousin Fran is actually my mother's first cousin (their fathers were brothers) {I don't know if that technically makes her my first cousin once removed or my second cousin}. But she's just Cousin Fran, or just Fran.

If there was enough of an age gap that "cousin" seems too informal, I think (at least in the US) you could us Aunt. I'm pretty sure I have a bunch of Aunts who aren't actually, or who are really cousins, or great-Aunts.

FWIW and VMMY

 

[Javahead]

I have relations like that.

They are all 'cousin' or if of an older generation 'Mother's (or Father's) cousin.

We know the exact relationship but cousin does for normal references.

My maternal grandparents both came from large families, so at gatherings we had a range of 1st 1R, 2nd, 2nd 1R, and even 3rd cousins to deal with. Grandparents’ siblings were always Aunt or Uncle So-and-So. The rest were all “my cousin So-and-So” for introductions, just their name otherwise.

I’m a bit of an amateur genealogist, so I’m able to be quite precise if needed. But not socially, unless we’re trying to work out our exact relationship because they’re interested, too. More usually, “oh, I’m X’s son Y” is about all the clarification people want.

 

[SimonDoom]

The "correct" term here is cousin, but that's not necessarily the term you want to use.

Use the term that seems most appropriate in the relationship. If the person is older than the main character then it's plausible that the family might have adopted, for one reason or another, the term "aunt" to describe the relationship between them. But if that's not true, then they probably would refer to themselves and just call each other by their first name. The term "cousin" would almost never come up between them.

Concentrate on the story, its needs, and the nature of the relationship, and then adopt the term that works best within that context. Forget about trying to be "accurate" by society's definition.

 

[oggbashan]

When I went to Australia in 1960 I met 50 descendants of one of my mother's cousins who went to Australia before my mother was born. They all referred to themselves as cousins. Now there are over 100 and one of my cousins married an Australian girl and lives in Sydney. He and they are in frequent contact.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I am writing a story and need some way for my main character to call someone. This someone is the daughter of her grandfather's younger brother.

Technically the relationship is second cousin once removed, but that doesn't translate well into dialogue.

For instance, if it was her own grandfather's daughter, she could say "Aunt Gwen" The person is at the same generation as an Aunt would be, but on a different branch.

I'm not sure if "Aunt" works well into this case. Is there another way?

"Aunt" is reasonable in informal conversation. If it's important for the reader to know the exact relationship, you could mention it somewhere:

Technically she was my great-uncle's daughter, but she'd always been Aunt Hilda to me.

 

[yukonnights]

I am writing a story and need some way for my main character to call someone. This someone is the daughter of her grandfather's younger brother.

Technically the relationship is second cousin once removed, but that doesn't translate well into dialogue.

For instance, if it was her own grandfather's daughter, she could say "Aunt Gwen" The person is at the same generation as an Aunt would be, but on a different branch.

I'm not sure if "Aunt" works well into this case. Is there another way?

Not sure if what your writing will fit this but; Would it be appropriate if, at an appropriate point in the story, the older distant cousin might say something like; "You can just call me Auntie Gwen."

auntie | ˈan(t)ē | (also aunty) -noun - informal term for aunt.

 

[MetaBob]

I am writing a story and need some way for my main character to call someone. This someone is the daughter of her grandfather's younger brother.

Technically the relationship is second cousin once removed, but that doesn't translate well into dialogue.

For instance, if it was her own grandfather's daughter, she could say "Aunt Gwen" The person is at the same generation as an Aunt would be, but on a different branch.

I'm not sure if "Aunt" works well into this case. Is there another way?

I believe the relationship you're describing is a first cousin once removed, rather than a second cousin once removed: the "someone daughter" is your MC's parent's first cousin. The explanation is clumsier since you didn't assign names (or genders) to everyone involved, but if I did so, assuming your MC is named Mary, her parent is Fred, Fred's father (Mary's grandfather) is Gordon, Gordon's younger brother (Mary's grand uncle) is Bill, and Bill's daughter is Della, then Della is Fred's first cousin and Mary's first cousin once removed.

I think for Mary to use "cousin" or "aunt" for her relationship to Della works equally well, perhaps depending on their relative ages. I know several of my second cousins and we don't refer to each other in conversation as second cousins, just as cousins. If one of their parents was roughly my age, I might do the same with them, but in practice I usually refer to them as "my mother's cousin" or "my father's."

If it helps, use the green & blue diagram here to visualize the relationships and their labels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin, where Mary is "me" and Della is her grand-uncle's daughter.