Daily Ancestorfaddere
Faddere are the godparents or baptism witnesses named in a Norwegian baptism entry; the old church law allowed at most five.
Faddere is the plural of fadder, a word that came through Middle Low German from Latin compater, co-father. The church ordinance of 1607, the ritual of 1685 and Christian V's Norwegian Law all set the limit at five, and the rule had to be repeated in the 1700s because people wanted more.
By old custom one of the faddere, preferably a woman, carried the child to the font. The names in the list can point to relatives and other branches of the family, so note every one.
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How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "faddere." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/norwegian/faddere. Last checked 2026-10-28.