Wafa — Name Meaning in Islam

Root: و-ف-ي (w-f-y), "to complete, to give in full, to keep to the measure". Wafāʾ is the verbal noun: fulfilment, keeping faith — carrying a promise all the way to its end rather than most of the way. The root's core is completeness, and loyalty is the moral case of it: a faithful person is one who does not stop short.

From the same root: awfā (to fulfil in full — al-Ma'ida 5:1 opens with the command to fulfil contracts, and al-Isra 17:34 says a covenant will be asked about), wafiyy (faithful), tawfiya (payment in full), mustawfī (complete), tawaffā (to take a soul in full, hence the ordinary Arabic verb for death), īfāʾ. The names Wafiq, Wafiyya and Awfa share the root.

A note on measure: the same root underlies the Qur'anic warnings against short measure in trade — to weigh bi'l-qisṭ and give full measure is īfāʾ, and the failure to do so is what al-Mutaffifin is named for. Loyalty and honest weighing are one idea in Arabic.

Spellings: Wafa, Wafaa, Vefa (Turkish, also a district of Istanbul), Wafa (Indonesian), Wafa (Urdu), Ouafa or Wafaa (French/Maghrebi), وفاء.

Pronunciation: wa-FAA — stress on the second syllable, long and closed by a hamza.

Masculine counterpart: Wafi, and Wafiq is close.