From the English word favour, used as a virtue name meaning approval, kindness, or grace.
Favour is a virtue name of Latin origin, derived from favor or favorem, meaning grace, goodwill, or divine approval — the sense of being smiled upon, chosen, or blessed. The concept of divine favour runs through virtually every major religious tradition: in the Hebrew Bible, to find favour in the eyes of God (chen in Hebrew) is the highest possible state of grace, expressed in figures from Noah to Mary. In Christianity, the Annunciation turns on the angel Gabriel's declaration that Mary is "full of grace" — in Latin, gratia plena — a concept nearly synonymous with favour.
The English word name Favour thus carries millennia of theological resonance in a single syllable. Favour (spelled in the British and West African manner, with the "u") has been a popular given name in Nigeria and Ghana particularly, where it belongs to a vibrant tradition of Christian virtue naming. Alongside Hope, Blessing, Precious, and Mercy, Favour is one of the names that reflects the deep integration of evangelical and Pentecostal Christianity into West African daily life — names that are not metaphors for virtues but declarations of identity, statements of gratitude for a life that was itself a gift.
Nigerian diaspora communities have carried the name to the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada, where it adds cultural texture to the broader landscape of English-language names. There is something direct and beautiful about Favour as a name: it requires no translation, no decoding. Its meaning is immediate and luminous. In a culture increasingly drawn to names with clear significance, Favour offers exactly that — a name that is itself a blessing.