Biological fathers

• Baby Daddy – A biological father who bears financial responsibility for a child, but with whom the mother has little or no contact.
• Birth father – the biological father of a child who, due to adoption or parental separation, does not raise the child or cannot take care of one.
• Biological father – or just “Father” is the genetic father of a child
• Posthumous father – father died before children were born (or even conceived in the case of artificial insemination)
• Putative father – unwed man whose legal relationship to a child has not been established but who is alleged to be or claims that he may be the biological father of a child
• Sperm donor – an anonymous or known biological father who provides his sperm to be used in artificial insemination or in vitro fertilisation in order to father a child for a third party female. Also used as a slang term meaning “baby daddy”.
• Surprise father – where the men did not know that there was a child until possibly years afterwards
• Teenage father/youthful father – Father who is still a teenager.

Non-biological (social and legal relationship)

• Adoptive father – the father who has adopted a child
• Cuckolded father – where the child is the product of the mother’s adulterous relationship
• DI Dad – social/legal father of children produced via Donor Insemination (where a donor’s sperm was used to impregnate the DI Dad’s spouse)
• Father-in-law – the father of one’s spouse
• Foster father – a child is raised by a man who is not the biological or adoptive father usually as part of a couple.
• Mother’s partner – assumption that current partner fills father role
• Mother’s husband – under some jurisdictions (e.g. in Quebec civil law), if the mother is married to another man, the latter will be defined as the father
• Presumed father – Where a presumption of paternity has determined that a man is a child’s father regardless of if he actually is or is not the biological father
• Social father – where a man takes de facto responsibility for a child, such as caring for one who has been abandoned or orphaned (the child is known as a “child of the family” in English law)
• Stepfather – a married non-biological father where the child is from a previous relationship

Fatherhood defined by contact level

• Absent father – a father who cannot or will not spend time with his child(ren)
• Second father – a non-parent whose contact and support is robust enough that near parental bond occurs (often used for older male siblings who significantly aid in raising a child)
• Stay-at-home dad – the male equivalent of a housewife with child, where his spouse is the breadwinner
• Weekend/holiday father – where the child(ren) only stay(s) with father on weekends, holidays, etc.