Godparent

A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. Today, the word godparent does not always have explicitly religious overtones. The secular view of a godparent tends to be an individual chosen by the parents to take an interest in the child's upbringing and personal development, and to take care of the child should anything happen to the parents. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother. The child is a godchild (godson, goddaughter).

Christianity

Origins

By the 2nd century CE, infant baptism had become accepted as a ceremony largely for the spiritual purification and social initiation of infants. The requirement for some confession of faith necessitated the use of adults who acted as sponsors for the child. They vocalized the confession of faith and acted as guarantors of the child’s spiritual upbringing.

Normally, these sponsors were the natural parents of a child, as emphasized in 408 by St. Augustine who suggested that they could, it seems exceptionally, be other individuals. Within a century, the Corpus Juris Civilis indicates that parents had been replaced in this role almost completely. This was clarified in 813 when the Council of Munich prohibited natural parents from acting as godparents to their own children.