This dictionary translates 干妈 as "Godmother", and my pocket dictionary also gives "nominal mother".
In English, "Godmother" and "Godfather" are very specific titles - Your Godparents are the people who sponsored your baptism (if you had one). Non Christians therefore do not have Godparents - indeed even many Christians do not.
My question is twofold:
- Is 干妈 the word that Chinese Christians use for the person who sponsored their baptism?
- Who else could be considered a 干妈. Where is the line between an older female friend of the family being a 干妈, and an 阿姨.