Dictionary

guideparent en · NOUN

Etymology

From guide + parent.

Meanings

1. A person who, at a child's naming ceremony, agrees to help raise the child (especially in a non-religious setting)
   • There’s a section where the guideparents and parents make their pledges to the child, usually promising to be there unconditionally and to support them always. 2018, Peter McGuire, “‘We’d be hypocritical standing in a church promising to raise our kids as Catholics’”, in The Irish Times:
   • The guideparents were very nervous during the naming ceremony.
   • Becoming a guideparent gives the person a special role in the baby’s life. 2020, Joanna Wojtkowiak, University of Humanistic Studies, Ritualizing Pregnancy and Childbirth in Secular Societies: Exploring Embodied Spirituality at the Start of Life:
   • Our experience is that almost all humanist naming ceremonies have guideparents involved. 2019, Richard Godwin, “'It locks you into a disintegrating friendship for life': the new rules of godparenting”, in The Guardian:

Forms