godfamily

godfamily

English

Etymology

god- +‎ family

Noun

godfamily (countable and uncountable, plural godfamilies)

1. A group of people who are closely related to one another by godparent/godchild ties (including godsiblings, godaunts, etc).
   • 1996, Senior Lecturer in Medieval History Christopher Given-Wilson, An Illustrated History of Late Medieval England, Manchester University Press (→ISBN), page 119:

     Apart from family, there was godfamily, something which was taken seriously […]

   • 2015, Michael York, Pagan Ethics: Paganism as a World Religion, Springer (→ISBN), page 372:

     First find a godparent, and learn what are the proper offerings for each Orisha, […] In essence one's godfamily functions as a support structure.

   • 2016, C. Lynn Carr, A Year in White: Cultural Newcomers to Lukumi and Santería in the United States, Rutgers University Press (→ISBN), page 119:

     He liked being served food, as is Lukumi custom, before everyone else, and he enjoyed the company of the other iyawos in his extended godfamily.

   • 2017, J. Bernstein, Standing Room Only: Marketing Insights for Engaging Performing Arts Audiences, Springer (→ISBN), page 178:

     These were attended by 4,500 godfamilies, and the feedback was extremely positive. “We're extremely proud of our musical godparents for 'opening up' […] "

Further reading

• 2016, C. Lynn Carr, A Year in White: Cultural Newcomers to Lukumi and Santería in the United States, Rutgers University Press (→ISBN), page 212:

  godfamily: Spirital kin consisting of one's godparents and their godchildren and sometimes the godfamily of one's godparents. A person has expectations of and responsibilities to members of one's godfamily such as godparents and godsiblings (a godparent's other godchildren).