F. Miranda classifies this surname as Sicilian of very scarce frequency, present in scattered localities of Sicily —especially in the provinces of Messina, Enna, Palermo and Syracuse— and with sporadic diffusion in regions of the north and centre of Italy such as Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Liguria, and in Campania and Lazio. According to Miranda, the surname and its variants (Favazzo, Favazza, Favalli, Favata) originated in the transformation into a surname of bynames or trade names linked to the pulse fava (broad bean), whether to refer to cultivators or sellers of broad beans, or they derive from place names of localities associated with that cultivation, such as Favara, Favale, Favarella or Favari.

V. Blunda proposes a different etymology of Greek root: the surname would come from fabàtses, derived from the Greek term fabà, "broad bean". Blunda frames this surname together with others of the same root —Favacchio, Favaró and Favella— and notes that all share that Greek lexical heritage transmitted to eastern Sicily. Both hypotheses converge on the same semantic base —the pulse called broad bean—, although they differ on whether the immediate origin is Latin-dialectal or Greek.