Alternative to Godparents

irishfrisky

Husbeast and I are atheists (no judgement please, not here for a theological discussion, I support whatever your belief system is). Thus, we do not plan to have a baptism. However, we have some very close friends that we would like to make a major part of baby's life, akin to Godparents. Basically honorary immediate family. Has anyone done this? Did you manage to come up with a good term for referring to them?

TeacherMama7

We are Catholic, and so we have godparents, but you could consider formally putting them in the will as the people you want to take care of your little one if anything were to happen to you. (Unless you want a family member to have him or her.) 

cmessamore

I have heard of a lot of people who aren't religious using term "guardians", which I think is really special.

ShePersisted

We don't technically have the concept of God parents in our culture so we added our friends on our will that they would get our son if anything were to happen to both of us. I am an only child, my husband is not close to his siblings so we don't have many options in our families. It's very sad and some days I do freak out but at least we have some friends we can put down in our will. 

bcashaw

DH is greek orthodox so we will be baptizing but there's so many rules (must be married, must be baptized Greek, must be able to fly to Greece, must have not already baptized a close family member) that we are likely going to end up with someone we aren't super close with. 
My best friend and I are very close and I call her Nana, so my child will do that as well and they will be raised knowing that she's something special and more akin to a godparent than an aunt. 

YesOuiCan

My friend is the "fairy godmother" to her friend's daughter! They are athiest but wanted to recognize/foster a special relationship.

Ladybentspoon

DS calls close friends Aunt or Uncle Whoever, which is our version of godparents. 

ariasbabyblog

We are also non-religious and have legal guardians for our boys in case something happens to us, but they get called Aunt and Uncle.

foxaírt

 guardian? although this is usually the term of a legal carer in the absence of the parents and not necessarily the god parents ,
Godparents along with parents are typically responsible for ensuring the child is raised guided in faith . A kind of second example of how to be a human within the belief system . a sprite parent and not really automatically the people who would take guardianship of the child /children if something happened to both parents . 

As an atheist you could elect a similar moral example for your child people you trust in your absence to raise them morally how you would. and who will sent an ethical example in their life , people who are not their parents but available for that type of guidance in life 

Guides , guardian, honorary aunt/uncle .or simply a request to offer that presence in your child's life without title - plenty of people have 'godparents' they end up having little to do with , it could be better to ask for them to be in your child's life actively without the ceremony .

liz4382

I think it's nice when close friends of the parents are called "aunt" and "uncle".