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The Canela compare formal friends to godfathers and godmothers or the godparents of a wedding, relationships which are common in the interior. There is a special respect between these men and women, who should be reciprocally served, honored, and protected. For example, if a baby accidentally falls into the fire, its principal formal friend should act out the accident in front of the baby's parents, with the possibility of burning himself in the same way. This dramatic act embarasses the parents in front of the assembled crowd, in such a way that father and mother will try to prevent the accident from happening again with their baby.

Formal friends, almost always men, joke amongst each other when they meet. Each one chooses his formal friend in the period of initiation of his age class. In the past they were inseparable. They went to war together, they protected each other mutually, and on occasion they exchanged wives.

In relation to naming, a man gives his set of names to his sister's or classificatory sister's son, while the woman gives hers to her uterine or classificatory brother's daughter. Thus, a brother and sister, uterine or classificatory, name their nephews and nieces of the same sex. During the 70s, there was a greater exchange of names between classificatory opposite sex siblings than between uterine siblings. It makes more sense for classificatory siblings to proceed in this way, since this institution narrows the relations between two people. The uterine siblings already have a strong relationship, thus the exchange of names doesn't serve to reinforce it. An alternative form of conduct open to distant cousins of opposite Sex who call themselves "brothers/sisters" is to have sexual relations, which makes them classificatory spouses, consequently breaking that relation. But if, instead of doing that, they exchange names, they will become almost as close as uterine siblings.

Along with name transmission goes the cerimonial rites and access to roles. Among other Timbira and the northern Gê, name transmission is cerimonially more important, when the name-giver transmits his cerimonial persona to the receiver. Among the Canela, however, name transmission is less evident and significant, both in cerimonial practices and in the daily life of the individual. This happens because the presence of the system of age class moieties is much more notable than the systems constituted by units based on name transmission. There are roles that have nothing to do with name transmission; for example: leaders related to age classes and young girls associated with initiation rites, wè?tè girls, visiting intertribal chief, or member of the group of clowns.

The Apanyekrá had more formal friends related to the personal name than the Ramkokamekrá, but they did not have, as the Ramkokamekrá did, the ritual (intêê) to make new formal friends. An Apanyekrá person is buried by his/her affines. Among the Ramkokamekrá, it is the formal friends who do this.