Grandniece vs. Great-Niece

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Douglas. I’m calling from Thomasville, Georgia.

Hi, Douglas. Welcome.

What’s up?

Well, I lay claim to having the world’s largest privately held collection of photos of relatives on camels.

Wait a second. The largest privately held collection of relatives on camels.

Correct.

There must be a story here.

Just a guess.

That’s how it kind of goes on into it.

Well, it just started with one of my children being deployed in the Middle East,

And then other cousins and nephews and nieces and people traveled over there,

And I just wound up with a pretty good collection of them.

Okay.

It’s a first.

I’ve got to tell you, Douglas, it’s a first.

Never heard of it, but congratulations on your collection.

I was visiting my brother recently, and one of his granddaughters, my great-niece,

Knew of my collection, and so she presented me with a photo of her riding on a camel

That she had taken in Morocco while she was over there on foreign studies.

All right.

So on my drive home, I got to thinking, and I said, well, she really is a great niece.

But then I got to thinking, I said, if that’s my brother’s granddaughter,

Why isn’t she my grandniece as opposed to greatniece?

So what I’d like to know is, where did that come about?

All right. I’m going to answer your first question. The where is not nearly as interesting as the why and the what.

It turns out that both of those words can be used for a relative in that position.

Both grandniece and greatniece are acceptable by most authorities.

Now, you will get sticklers in the genealogy business who will assist for clarity that one or the other be used, but they’re the exception.

So she is both your greatniece and your grandniece.

This is your brother’s granddaughter, right?

That’s correct.

Yes.

That’s your grandniece or your greatniece.

Either one works.

Or my greatniece.

Yeah.

I will start referring to them as grandnieces.

And let’s not start doing the once-removed stuff because I have no idea.

So what you’re telling me is they’ve both been used in the past and are still correctly used now?

Yes, sir.

Exactly right.

Well, good.

Yeah.

So you’re good to go.

And you know what?

If any part of this camel collection is online, we’d love to see it.

I think I can put it together and send it to you.

No, you don’t go to a lot of trouble.

But if you’ve got one of you at least, if you’ve got one of you on a camel, that’s the one we want to see the most.

No, I’m the missing link there.

You’re the missing link.

We’ve got to work on that.

Well, you’ve got to take care of that.

I’m imagining a giant, you know, four-by-four picture of you in the middle with the whole satellite family around you.

Absolutely.

Oh, Douglas.

Well, I’ll see if I can’t work on that.

Thank you for your call, Douglas.

Well, thank you.

Take care now.

Thanks.

Camel spit.

Watch out.

Bye-bye.

We’ll accept your photos of you astride, say, a wild boar,

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