How many godparents are too many?

[mag2305]

We're hoping to get our daughter christened next spring and have a few people that we'd like to be her godparents. I'm interested to know how many godparents you think would be enough or too many? Or any personal experiences?
Thank you.

Dh says 2 our children have 4 each.......

(Make of that what you want)

Personally I think 11 is a bit over the top.

3 DC - 4,5 and 4 godparents each. I'm one of 4 to my Godchildren too.

Too many would be 6+ unless you're royalty I think.

Four is the maximum.

Any more than 2 or 3 is too many for me.

Personally, three is plenty. For a girl, two godmothers and a godfather, for a boy, two godfathers and a godmother.

Think more about the individuals and what they might bring to your child’s life as a spiritual guide. Then limit to 4.

"Traditionally it should be two of the same sex as the baby and one of the other. So for a girl it would be two women and one man - three in total.

I was traditional and had 2 godmothers and 1 godfather for Dd.

You can only have a maximum of 4.

Two is usual where I'm from - I've never seen more than that up at the font.

According to Canon Law, a godparent must have received the three Sacraments of Initiation, be a practising Christian and be aged 16 or more. Only one godparent is necessary but, if there are two, Canon Law states they must be male and female, not two males or two females.18 Aug 2021

Canon Law says 2. Mind you, Canon Law says a lot of things.

Any more than 3 I think is too many.

In our family it's generally one married couple and then a person of the same sex as the child.

DS1 had 2 Godfathers and 1 Godmother. One of the GFs sadly died.

I think DS2 only had one of each. And his Godmother died (I promise its a sad coincidence!). If he had another GF then I can't remember who it was

@Ostryga

I was traditional and had 2 godmothers and 1 godfather for Dd.

You can only have a maximum of 4.

DC1 has three godparents. DC2 has five godparents.

There was no issue with DC2 having five and all of them are confirmed/baptised as adults, over 16 and practising Christians.

Two to four seems a good number though in Church of England the parents can also count as Godparents, so you only technically need one more. I’d say more than four is a lot, but it will depend enormously on what role you want them to play in your lives and the child’s life, who they are, your personal circumstances, do you want your children to have the same/different Godparents if you have more than one child, which church you are talking about etc etc. Four would be very typical at our church, I’ve often seen baptisms with two, three and in one case I can remember five.

(Don't shoot me..) What exactly is the purpose of a godparent(s) ?

This would be in a congregational church so technically not a christening as it would be in the church of England, but we're still going to use the name godparents.
We've got five people in mind. Each of them is special to our daughter in their own way. Our son had three.
We both come from Christian families so it's a significant thing.

@nearlywed21

(Don't shoot me..) What exactly is the purpose of a godparent(s) ?

Traditionally to guide in the teachings of Christ and if you die they will look after your child should no relative be able to do so.

Obviously today the latter point is mute as there are legal pathways but the first should still be true.

I know 3 is traditional, but I guess it depends. If you're close friends with 2 couples then it's a bit harsh to leave one half of a couple out to fit in with the idea of having 3.