The phrase "a distant relation" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to describe a family connection that is not close, such as a relative who is several generations removed.
Example: "Although we only meet at family reunions, I consider her a distant relation."
Alternatives: "a distant relative" or "a remote connection".
Curiously, Church was also a distant relation of Richard Church, who had been among Hooker's party.
While not a direct descendant, the gaokao is generally considered a distant relation of the keju.
At the time we called it gin, although I later discovered it is a distant relation.
But league cricket is a distant relation to the professional game.
A teenage boy who punched the Spanish Prime Minister is a distant relation of the leader.
He recalled when his mother brought him, at age 16, to visit a distant relation in Independence.
He falls for a poorer distant relation, a young, former beauty-pageant contestant named Fusun.
In fact, I conceived the novel and the museum simultaneously, and explained the complex link between them in the novel: a young man from a wealthy, westernised Istanbul family falls in love with a poor distant relation, and when his love goes unrequited, he finds solace in collecting everything his beloved has ever touched.
The proprietress of the Sanzelize (its name a transliteration of the legendary Parisian avenue), Senay Hanim, was a very distant relation on my mother's side, but she wasn't there when I walked into the boutique at around twelve and the small bronze double-knobbed camel bell jingled two notes that can still make my heart pound.
A cool, distant relation who swept in to visit us twice in New York and didn't get along with my mother.
A cult is structured, with a division of sacred personnel (priests) who lead and perform the cultic ceremonies for the people, who are in a more distant relation with the deity.
