I am asking this question for a friend. My friend's sister's husband's parents have become very involved in her kids' lives. She wants to know if there is a relational term her children may officially refer to them as. Thanks for your help!
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1Please see Paucity of words for relationships– Cascabel_StandWithUkraine_Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 18:00
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2 Answers
For children, relatives at one's parent's generation or above that are not explicitly parents or grandparents or just close friends of the family at those generation are usually referred to simply as
Aunt or Uncle so-and-so.
But that's what you call them to their face. If you need to describe them to other people, usually there's some kinship term or more likely a combination, just like you described. For the very particular relation given, there is no single term in English for such a complicated relationship and so a combination of terms, like "aunt's in-laws" might be sufficient (but would include brothers- and sisters-in-law).
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Good answer, I've called many unrelated, but close people as Aunt or Uncle, including godparents, family friends, and close neighbors. I've never heard the term aunt-in-law or uncle-in-law, despite the fact that you have no blood ties to your parent's sibling's spouse, so these terms are already very commonly used to describe in-law relationships without additional qualifiers. Commented Jun 17, 2019 at 18:36
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@NuclearWang This is of course just for the GenAmE culture. Other English speaking cultures may do something different. I hear 'Auntie' a lot on TV by non-native-English-speaking foreigners speaking English but it sounds really old-fashioned or childish to me. (but note Auntie Em' in 'Wizard of Oz'). Also, either culture is changing or the use changes with age: when I was very young for people not my actual aunts and uncles, it was 'Aunt and Uncle so and so' but eventually because just their first name.– MitchCommented Jun 17, 2019 at 19:10
Your mother's sister is your aunt.
Your husband's parents are your parents-in-law.
Putting those two together: aunt's parents-in-law or aunt's in-laws
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That's helpful! Thank you! Do you have an idea as to what they may be affectionately referred? Are they a type of aunt and uncle? Or a type of parents?– PaigeCommented Jan 18, 2019 at 18:08
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3@Paige, I don't know of any common term that would describe this relationship. Your aunt's parents would be your grandparents (because your aunt's parents are your mother/father's parents as well), so by some counts these are the children's grandparents-in-law. This might argue for them being called "grandma" and "grandpa." On the other hand, it's fairly common to call people "aunt" or "uncle" who aren't really our aunts and uncles. That's probably what I would do.– JuhaszCommented Jan 18, 2019 at 18:41
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2@Paige There is no common term for this because they would be considered somewhat remote relatives in most of the Anglosphere. (Note the very important difference between aunts-in-law, your spouse’s aunts, and aunt’s in-laws, the parents-in-law of your aunt. The former is stressed on the first syllable, the latter on the second.) Commented Jan 18, 2019 at 20:40
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1For parents of actual "aunts" and "uncles", you could use "great-aunt" or "great-uncle".– jxhCommented Jan 18, 2019 at 23:53
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@jxh Her sister's husband (her brother-in-law) is her children's uncle so his parents are great aunt and great uncle as you say. However I've never come across anyone who addresses or refers to their great aunts and great uncles as anything but "aunt" and "uncle" unless they are describing the relationship formally.– BoldBenCommented Jan 19, 2019 at 3:34