My wife is Catholic, Roman Catholic to be exact. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 percent of the population of the Philippines is Roman Catholic. The next of kin relationships are defined here by Roman Catholic as well as Spanish traditions.

Godparents:

Ninong (male) and ninang (female) are the Tagalog language words that mean godfather and godmother. Newly baptized babies are given godparents, selected by the parents. They list either the godfather or the godmother on their paperwork and the other one becomes a godparent automatically. Well, I've been made a godfather automatically more times than I can count.

Godparents have as much authority over children as their parents. It doesn't make sense to me, but who am I?

Niece/Nephew:

The definition in the dictionary as well as common usage in the United States is a child of your sibling or a child of your spouse's sibling. That's true here also, but they have something else mixed up in it. The child of your first cousin is your niece or nephew as well. We call those cousins once removed. There's even a chart at Wikipedia that explains the American/English cousin relationships.

One of my wife's cousins has a daughter (a cousin once removed that my wife calls niece) that's my goddaughter. She calls me "Ninong".

Aunt/Uncle:

Just like niece/nephew. My son has been told to call my wife's cousins aunt and uncle because that's what the tradition is here. It's messed up, but I'm not one to tangle with traditions that have been around a lot longer than I have.

Grandfather/Grandmother

The brother of my wife's grandfather is called Lolo (Tagalog for grandfather). Lola is for grandmother. Great uncle/great aunt would be more appropriate, wouldn't it?

What's my point? We can never take anything for granted. Not even something as simple as our understanding of next of kin relationships. The only reason I wrote about this is because I may mention a niece or nephew, aunt or uncle, or something else concerning a next of kin in a future post and that person may not be exactly what you expect.