Would you still be with whoever you’re dating if you found out you’re 58th cousins?

r/

My boyfriend just asked me this question and I dont know what to say. I think that it wouldn’t make it weird anymore but honestly I dont know. I feel like you’re not even really related if it’s that far(?)

Comments

  1. googlemcfoogle Avatar

    Aren’t literally all humans 58th cousins? I wouldn’t break up with someone unless I found out they’re a third cousin from my actual known family, or a biological first/second cousin (both of my parents are adopted so there are a bunch of strangers none of us know anything about that are genetically related to me)

  2. Hellfirexoxo36 Avatar

    I feel like we’re all connected in some ways. Especially living in the same city. I wouldn’t really care lol. For me personally I think a 10th cousin would be the limit😅

  3. ZevSteinhardt Avatar

    58th cousins means that you share great-great-great ( with a total of 57 greats) grandparents. That means your most common ancestor lived about 1700 years ago.

    You’re fine. Enjoy your date.

  4. MountainMuffin1980 Avatar

    Yes, because that’s so far removed it’s irrelevant. Probably much less than 0.1% shared DNA at that point.

  5. KardashevZero Avatar

    And risk my child becoming a liberal (autistic)? No way!!!

  6. talashrrg Avatar

    I think that’d make you less related than most people…

  7. elonsusk69420 Avatar

    There is a good chance you probably are if you’re even remotely similar heritage.

  8. MadRockthethird Avatar

    That’s so far removed you probably are 57th cousins.

  9. Azyall Avatar

    Well, in the UK you can legally marry your first cousin, so 58th is no problem. You had a common ancestor centuries ago. So what?

  10. Intergalacticio Avatar

    It’s only really a problem if you’re within 3 or 4th cousins range, higher placements in the family tree are not really a big issue.

  11. Randumbthoghts Avatar

    That’s probably a majority of small towns where the ir aren’t a whole lot of people moving in or out of the area. The town I moved to, it seems like every other person is related

  12. NOGOODGASHOLE Avatar

    You having three headed babies with tails!!!

  13. caramel-syrup Avatar

    youre more likely to be earlier cousins than that tbh

  14. hughdg Avatar

    Humans have some of the lowest genetic variation, so we are pretty much all related in some way

  15. Solo-me Avatar

    Sorry OP you need to find a different excuse.

  16. manwhothinks Avatar

    Not only would I continue dating them I would also bring it up constantly and at the most inappropriate times.

    I am lot of fun in the uncomfortable kind of way.

  17. hunnybadger22 Avatar

    My husband and I found out we were 9th cousins while we were engaged. It’s for sure legal and we googled it and it said we share like 0.05% DNA or something like that. I believe it said that once you pass 4th cousins or something, it’s pretty much the same as being genetically strangers

  18. sciencebased Avatar

    Karma farming. Everyone’s comments are assuming anyone is that stupid.

  19. matttheepitaph Avatar

    There’s a good chance most people you know or meet are within that.

  20. CaptainMagnets Avatar

    Help me great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, cousin, I’m stuck!

  21. MostBoringStan Avatar

    If you’re not first, you’re last.

  22. Maxusam Avatar

    My other half is my cousin 4 times removed. We grew up in different, but close countries. We only found out after doing some Ancestry stuff. Doesn’t bother us at all.

  23. momomomorgatron Avatar

    5th cousins isn’t a bit weird, as long as genes didn’t swap earlier.

  24. bisky12 Avatar

    honestly it’s really rare for a kid to have birth defects even if you’re first cousins so if we found out we were about as related as everyone in a small town then yes i could not care less

  25. FinndBors Avatar

    I’d break up. I only date first or second cousins.

    /S

  26. enonmouse Avatar

    Depends on how things were going….

  27. weirdgroovynerd Avatar

    Dang, 58 cousins?

    The family parties must be epic!

  28. OTKBlack Avatar

    That’s so far removed that if they brought that up I might be annoyed enough to leave

  29. nikkidarling83 Avatar

    I doubt you’d be able to find someone you’re not 58th cousins with.

  30. YesterShill Avatar

    I would be shocked if someone I was with was not at least a 58th cousin.

  31. Carsharr Avatar

    First cousins share a grandparent. Second cousins share a great grandparent. 58th cousins share a great(x57) grandparent. Your most recent common ancestor lived 59 generations ago, which is about 1200 years ago.

    In short, my answer is yes.

  32. duowolf Avatar

    yes because who cares

  33. autumn_chicken Avatar

    Is this an aragorn/arwen question in disguise.

  34. notyogrannysgrandkid Avatar

    My wife and I are like 7th cousins twice removed or something. A friend of mine from high school married his third cousin. It’s not weird. You’d have a harder time finding someone more distantly related than 58th cousins.

  35. Ashamed-Quarter-180 Avatar

    58th cousins 😭 it’s like, at that point, are you even cousins, lol, and/or does it even matter?!?

  36. -PinkPower- Avatar

    That’s basically all humans tho?

  37. Matias9991 Avatar

    Obviously, at that point you are hardly related at all.

  38. AlternativeElement Avatar

    In Iceland, people are much more related than that. My ex was my 6th cousin once removed. The general rule of thumb is that 4th cousins are related while 5th cousins are not.

  39. soft_white_yosemite Avatar

    Everyone is closer related than that

  40. Poverty_welder Avatar

    Yes. Hell it can be waaaaay less than that

  41. sneezhousing Avatar

    That far back yes

  42. king-of-new_york Avatar

    I think it only takes like 6th cousins to be not incest. Like your babies would be as healthy as if you made it with a stranger.

  43. BILADOMOM Avatar

    Man, 3rd degree is game to me, imagine 58th

  44. Aeon1508 Avatar

    I wouldn’t really think twice about it if it was more than fourth cousins.

    If two people are of European descent they’re almost certainly between 6th and 10th cousins

    The vast majority of people you meet are going to be closer related to you than 15th cousin.

    You would have to go to a very isolated population to even find somebody who is 58th cousins with you

  45. EatYourCheckers Avatar

    I’m pretty sure everyone on earth is related by 16th cousins or less. So you are missing some familial connections.

  46. murse_joe Avatar

    You’re underestimating how related we all are. Even the most distant humans are like 17th cousins. Every US president has been within four or five cousins.

  47. thriceness Avatar

    58th? Do you have any idea how distant that is? I think most people from the same country are likely already closer related than that.

  48. Rebecca_of_troy Avatar

    Hope you like that hasbourg jaw because your kids are getting it.

  49. patterns_everywhere_ Avatar

    My paternal grandparents were second cousins. I’m sure you’ll be fine.

  50. elizajaneredux Avatar

    That’s not even a thing of any concern. Yes, and I’d probably still be with him even if we found out we were 2nd cousins!

  51. GrayNish Avatar

    You both probably descend from charlemagne, or genghis khan. Yep, that’s about the timeframe

  52. Medical_Conclusion Avatar

    You share about the same amount of DNA with your 5th cousin as you do with someone completely unrelated. So I’m pretty sure you’re in the clear at 58th.

  53. hatemakingnames1 Avatar

    OP: …I guess it’s ok?

    OP’s boyfriend: Ok, now what about 3rd cousins, because that’s what we are

  54. Steerider Avatar

    Pretty much any two people of the same ethnicity are (at least) 58th cousins. 

  55. rc3105 Avatar

    58th cousin is pretty distant, like a spider monkey somewhere in china distant, so if they’re human you’re good.

  56. Luddites_Unite Avatar

    You literally have billions of 58th cousins. There is a pretty good chance you’re closer cousins than that.

  57. TerrorFirmerIRL Avatar

    This is up there with “would you still love me if I was a worm?”

  58. -russell-coight- Avatar

    Babe Queen Camilla is like my 5th cousin and I ain’t getting any royalties so go for your life 😂

  59. Simets83 Avatar

    It’s totally acceptable. Keep f-ing

  60. RedEgg16 Avatar

    lol you guys are probably below 15th cousins  you’re fine

  61. RebeccaBuckisTanked Avatar

    I’m from a small town, the line ends at like 3rd

  62. HalcyonSix Avatar

    58th cousins definitely wouldn’t matter to me. I heard that anything beyond second cousins is irrelevant genetics-wise (I am not willing to look this up for a random post so I’m not sure if it’s true.) So that wouldn’t matter to me.

  63. goldandjade Avatar

    Most of the people from the same island as me show up on AncestryDNA as 4th-6th cousins, I ended up marrying outside of my ethnic group but generally people just don’t really consider anyone beyond a second cousin to be an actual relative.

  64. PhatOofxD Avatar

    Pretty sure the majority of humanity would be 58th cousins

    After about 4th cousins you’re pretty much genetically strangers as much as any one more distantly related

  65. Troliver_13 Avatar

    Isn’t everyone at least 8th degree cousins with everyone else? Is that a fake fact I read 10 years ago?

  66. green_meklar Avatar

    At this point pretty much everyone is 58th cousins with pretty much everyone else.

  67. Madpakke100kg Avatar

    How do you not know this? It’s probably like 2000 years away. If you go far enough back we are all related

  68. pdf_file_ Avatar

    I don’t think 58th cousins actually exist. There’s is a lot of mix and match.

  69. Sonnyjesuswept Avatar

    I’d probably not want to date someone who asks such a dumb question. Pretty sure once you’re past 3rd cousins you’re no longer related.

  70. Kaine_Eine Avatar

    Yeah, that’s more than half way to the point where you are related to literally everyone

  71. hillofjumpingbeans Avatar

    Everyone on planet earth is already 50th cousins with each other. Your boyfriend and you are much more closely related than that probably. Especially if you’re the same race.

  72. vintagebutterfly_ Avatar

    Provided that you haven’t missed a more recent common ancestor somewhere, that would make you significantly less related than normal strangers. At that point the concern would be outbreeding depression.

  73. RegularJoe62 Avatar

    Go back about twenty generations and you’re related to nearly everyone alive.

    It’s like people of European descent boasting that they’re a descendant of Charlemagne. Sure. Except practically everyone of European descent is among his progeny.

    If you could trace your entire genealogy back ten generations, it’s almost certain you’d find the same person more than once, so you’re probably your own cousin already.

  74. 23shittnkittns Avatar

    Lol, we discussed it pretty early on and decided we’d stay together even if we found out we were half-siblings, we just wouldn’t have kids.

  75. Dramoriga Avatar

    “help me, step-step-step-step…”

  76. gotta-love-anxiety Avatar

    58th cousins is barely related to

  77. Stock_Garage_672 Avatar

    Hell, I’d date my third cousin. First? No. Second? No. But third? Sure. I don’t even know any of my third cousins by sight or by name.

  78. Cabee99 Avatar

    My husband’s first cousins are my second cousins. We’re not blood relatives at least so all good. Interesting family reunions though.

  79. BestTyming Avatar

    I hope you realize you technically could date and reproduce with your second cousin and have little to no chance of birth defects? Only thing you’d have to really worry about is the social stigma of it being THAT close

    So if your 2nd cousin is okay….

    Bro the vast majority of people have probably slept with or reproduced with their 58th cousin and never knew it.

  80. NCee94 Avatar

    We are all inbreds and related if the whole Adam and Eve fantasy is correct 😂

  81. -HeisenBird- Avatar

    1st cousin births carry the same risks as having a baby in your late 30s. 2nd cousin and beyond births carry almost negligible risks. Also, a 58th cousin means that you share a great (x56) grandparent who goes back over 1000 years. You probably are 58th cousins with your SO if not more closely related.

  82. Prankstaboy6 Avatar

    Yes.

    There’s no wrongdoing here. George Bush and Obama are 9th cousins.

    I have a friend who is probably a cousin to the royal Family, due to a mutual ancestor.

    We’re all a lot closer than you think.

  83. Dr-Ogge Avatar

    Im closer related to the king of England than you are to that girl. Realistically almost everyone you see, if you live near where your parents live, are as close if not closer.

  84. Justagirlhere2891 Avatar

    No, my last name is incredibly rare and we’d probably have the same last name. It would freak me out

  85. Queenalicious89 Avatar

    My sister is my 7th cousin. Someone a few generations back got a bit closer than 58 separations and yes, my mother’s family is from West Virginia.

  86. Hiraethetical Avatar

    All humans are 58th cousins. That’s the generational estimate of our common ancestor or something.

  87. bitetheasp Avatar

    If we’re at closest 2nd cousins, it’s totally fine.

  88. CatBoyTrip Avatar

    you are 58th cousins with everyone who has or ever will exist.

  89. Petrica55 Avatar

    DNA tests like 23 and me or my heritage don’t go beyond 8th cousins, and for all intents and purposes I think anything beyond 4th cousins is OK.

  90. DaniCapsFan Avatar

    Go back far enough, and we all share common ancestors. I’d think by fourth cousins, that’s pretty distant.

  91. Reallybabe-_- Avatar

    People really dont understand genetics. They just see “cousins” and get weirded out. The world is smaller than you think.

  92. monkeyburrito411 Avatar

    I have a 58th cousin kink so yes actually I’d be okay with it.

  93. negcap Avatar

    Sure. My wife used to joke that she would stay with me even if she found out we were siblings. Not even step, but full on.

  94. Weebs_R_Us Avatar

    my boyfriend and i share an aunt 🫣
    our grandparents (my grandpa, his grandma) had a one night stand as teens and therefore we share an aunt and first cousins as a result. we’re still dating and i get to make cousin jokes despite sharing no blood.

  95. jastiinee Avatar

    I would date my cousin sooo…. JOKE hahahaha but seriously great cousins draws the line for whats acceptable for me!

  96. Musashi10000 Avatar

    If someone was my 58th cousin, that means that we had one shared ancestor about 1500-1800 years ago.

    There’s no shared DNA at that point. So, no, I wouldn’t be leaving my wife over that.

  97. romulusnr Avatar

    bro by third cousin it don’t count, you only share like 1/8th dna, that’s nothing

  98. DeaddyRuxpin Avatar

    My wife is into genealogy and found out she and I are related, if you go back to the 1400s. All it changed in our relationship is the next time we had sex she quoted the movie Joe Dirt.

  99. Morealyn Avatar

    No.

    I only date first cousins

  100. Nvenom8 Avatar

    Most people are more related than that.

  101. sanban013 Avatar

    dont worry bro, after like the 5th, cousin youre ok.

  102. King-Key Avatar

    If anyone said no then they are either very dumb or very stupid