what are second cousins

Second cousins are people who share a great-grandparent with you. They are not your direct siblings, but rather the children of your parents first cousins. You and your second cousins typically share 3.125% of your DNA. The degree of cousinhood, whether first, second, or third, denotes the number of generations between two cousins parents and their nearest common ancestor. To calculate the number of "greats" in your common ancestors title and add 1 to find out what number cousin your relative is, you can use the cousin calculator.