Family Relationships Formula

In the course of sending out invitations to local, but distant, relatives for a family birthday this month, I found myself trying to explain how some of us are related. "Second cousin, once removed," is usually beyond the comprehension of most of us.

Luckily, the reference librarian in me discovered a nifty website that explains it all. Try out What Is a First Cousin, Twice Removed? from Genealogy.com. They have a table that you can use to plug in yourself and the person to whom you are somehow related to see where you intersect with the exact degree of your kinship.