What is the difference between second cousin and first cousin once removed?

A first cousin is the son/daughter of your aunt/uncle.

A first cousin once removed is the child of your great aunt/uncle and a second cousin is the child of this person!

This should explain all at the link below! Its all very complicated!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_cousin_once_removed

It really isn’t complicated. First, second, third, etc., all indicate that the parties so labeled are descended by the same number of generations from the common ancestor. A remove simply indicates that the parties are NOT descended by the same number of generations, and the number of the remove represents the difference between their generations.

Thus, your aunt or uncle’s child is your first cousin. Your first cousin’s child is your first cousin once removed (different generations), and your first cousin’s child and your child are second cousins (same generation.) Your first cousin’s grandchild is your first cousin twice removed, and your grandchild and your first cousin’s grandchild are third cousins.

My mother has a first cousin. That person is my first cousin once removed. Her daughter is my second cousin.

It really isn’t that difficult to understand, and “embroidery fan” said it well. The child of your first cousin is your first cousin once removed. That child and your own child are second cousins to each other.

If you have a cousin, and your cousin has a child, the child is your first cousin…once removed. If you have a child, then your child and the other child are second cousins.

Second cousins share a set of great-grandparents, and first cousins share a set of grandparents; that’s the easy part. For first cousins once removed, one person is the child of the other person’s first cousin. A real-life example from my own family:

Gertrude and Hollis were my grandparents. They had two daughters, named Melba and Joye. Melba and Joye are sisters. Melba has a daughter (me), named Patricia; Joye has a son, named Brian. Brian and I are cousins because we share a set of grandparents.

Brian has a son named Craig; Craig is my first cousin once removed, because he is descended from my grandparents, but is one generation further “removed” from them. I have a son named Jeff; Jeff and Craig are second cousins, and Jeff is the first cousin once removed of Brian.

When Jeff and Criag have children, those children will be third cousins… and so on, down the generations.

A second cousin is the child of a first cousin to one of your parents.

A first cousin once removed is either your parent’s first cousin or your first cousin’s child.