Is the correct term 3rd Great Grandparent or 3-times Great Grandparent?

+2 votes
20.5k views

Watching WDYTYA on TLC these last few weeks and surprised by Ancestry.com co-produced show having the celebrities of interest use the term “3-times Great Grandparents”.  Almost everywhere else I have heard and used “3rd Great Grandparent”.  What does the WikiTree community use?

in Genealogy Help by Toby Proctor G2G Rookie (230 points)
Three times great grandparents literally means the great grandparents have 3 great grandchildren.  Are these celebrities famous for their wisdom and knowledge of language.  In England such language is used and they insist however they phrase things correctly so maybe it's a matter of choice in the end.

3 Answers

+3 votes
 
Best answer
I use the term 3rd great grandparent. (G/G/G grandparent).  Its much simpler to understand.
by Living Hammond G2G6 Mach 8 (85.7k points)
selected by Toby Proctor
I agree it is much simpler, but what is the accepted term in the Professional Genealogy community?
Ya - I agree with this.  I can't imagine using the term "third times great grandparent" in conversation....
The accepted term is 3rd great grandparent.
3rd great grandparent is redundant. It means

great great great great grandparent. Which technically means your 4th grandparent. So using the prefix 3rd doesn't really make sense.
0 votes
I use 3x great grandparent. Almost everybody I know does that.
by anonymous G2G6 Pilot (281k points)
+3 votes
I'm not sure there's one accepted way of saying it. Personally, I say great grandparent, then great great grandparent, and further back than that I say 3 times great grandparent, etc.

What I find more confusing is when I say great great aunt but some people say great grand aunt, leading to the number of greats being one off from each other!
by Liander Lavoie G2G6 Pilot (455k points)

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