From the vocabulary word denoting the quality of magnanimity, and in particular God's forgiveness of sinners, a quality much prized in Christian tradition. The word is derived from Latin merces, which originally meant ‘wage’ or ‘reward’ (see Mercedes). The name was in regular use from the mid 15th century onwards and was favoured by the Puritans; Mercy is the companion of Christiana in the second part of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress (1684). Subsequently, it fell out of use as a given name. In modern use, this is often an Anglicized form of Mercedes.