Tamil Family Relationship Finder
Chain relations like Wife → Mother → Brother to find what to call them, in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and English.
Tap a relation below to add it to the chain — for example tap Wife, then Mother, then Younger Brother to ask about your wife's mother's brother. Tap the × on any step in the chain to remove just that step, or use Clear to start over.
Kinship terms in Indian languages depend on more than just "how are we related" — they change based on which side of the family the person is on, whether they're older or younger than the relative who connects you, and whether the relation is by blood or by marriage. That's why "wife's mother's brother" isn't obvious: he isn't your father-in-law's brother, he's addressed the same way as a maternal uncle — Mama.
Build the chain one relation at a time — starting from you — and this tool walks it the way a Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam or Hindi-speaking family would: your mother's brother is Mama regardless of his age, your father's elder brother is Periyappa but his younger brother is Chithappa, and your mother's brother's children are Machaan/Machini rather than plain "cousins". Every result shows the term in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and English side by side, including where a language splits a relation differently — Hindi, for instance, gives grandparents and grandchildren separate words for the paternal and maternal sides where the three Dravidian languages here use one word for both.
The chain covers close family through grandparents, great-grandparents, grandchildren and great-grandchildren — tap any step in the chain to remove just that step, or Clear to start over. Not every possible chain has one fixed word in every language; where that happens, the tool shows the closest named relative in the chain along with the person's generation and gender instead.
Frequently asked questions
- What do I call my wife's mother's brother?
- Mama (மாமா) in Tamil — the same word used for your own mother's brother, and the same idea in Telugu (Mamayya), Malayalam (Ammavan) and even Hindi (Mama, the same word). In-laws' brothers are generally addressed the same way as a maternal uncle.
- Why is my mother's brother always Mama, but my father's brothers have two different words?
- Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam all distinguish a father's elder brother (Periyappa/Peddananna/Valiyachan) from his younger brother (Chithappa/Chinnanna/Cheriyachan) because both are close, everyday relations of the same generation as your father. A mother's brother, regardless of age, is simply Mama — and Hindi follows the same pattern with Tau/Chacha for father's brothers but one word, Mama, for mother's brother.
- Are my father's brother's children really not called 'cousins'?
- Traditionally, no, in the Dravidian languages here — a father's brother's or mother's sister's children are 'parallel cousins' and are addressed like your own siblings. It's specifically a mother's brother's or father's sister's children — 'cross-cousins' — who get distinct terms like Machaan and Machini in Tamil. Hindi doesn't make this distinction and just uses different words for 'cousin brother/sister' depending on which uncle or aunt they're through.
- Why do some relations show a different word for Hindi than for Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam?
- Hindi and the three Dravidian languages here structure kinship differently in a few places — most notably, Hindi gives paternal and maternal grandparents/grandchildren separate words (Dada vs Nana, Pota vs Nati), while Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam mostly use one word regardless of side. Any such difference is called out directly under the result.
- Do these terms vary by region or community?
- Yes — kinship vocabulary can differ between regions, dialects, and communities even within the same language. This tool covers the widely used, standard terms, but your family may use a local variant for some relations, especially in-laws' relatives and cousins.
- What happens if a relationship chain has no single word?
- The tool shows the closest named relative earlier in the chain, along with the person's generation and gender — in practice, relations that far removed are usually just addressed by name.