diff --git a/Doc/library/os.rst b/Doc/library/os.rst
--- a/Doc/library/os.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/os.rst
@@ -1530,6 +1530,9 @@
    Change the owner and group id of *path* to the numeric *uid* and *gid*. To leave
    one of the ids unchanged, set it to -1.
 
+   See :func:`shutil.chown` for a higher-level function that accepts names in
+   addition to numeric ids.
+
    Availability: Unix.
 
 
diff --git a/Doc/library/shutil.rst b/Doc/library/shutil.rst
--- a/Doc/library/shutil.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/shutil.rst
@@ -182,6 +182,22 @@
 
    Availability: Unix, Windows.
 
+.. function:: chown(path, user=None, group=None)
+
+   Change owner *user* and/or *group* of the given *path* (either a file or a
+   directory).
+
+   *user* can be a system user name or a uid; the same applies to *group*. Both
+   arguments are optional but at least one must be set (the other remains
+   unchanged).
+
+   See also :func:`os.chown`, the underlying function.
+
+   Availability: Unix.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.3
+
+
 .. exception:: Error
 
    This exception collects exceptions that are raised during a multi-file
diff --git a/Lib/shutil.py b/Lib/shutil.py
--- a/Lib/shutil.py
+++ b/Lib/shutil.py
@@ -773,3 +773,34 @@
             total, free = nt._getdiskusage(path)
             used = total - free
         return _ntuple_diskusage(total, used, free)
+
+def chown(path, user=None, group=None):
+    """Change owner user and group of the given path (file or dir).
+
+    user and group can be the uid/gid or the user/group names, and in that case,
+    they are converted to their respective uid/gid.
+    """
+
+    if user is None and group is None:
+        raise ValueError("user and/or group must be set")
+
+    _user = user
+    _group = group
+
+    # -1 means don't change it
+    if user is None:
+        _user = -1
+    # user can either be an int (the uid) or a string (the system username)
+    elif not isinstance(user, int):
+        _user = _get_uid(user)
+        if _user is None:
+            raise LookupError("no such user: {!r}".format(user))
+
+    if group is None:
+        _group = -1
+    elif not isinstance(group, int):
+        _group = _get_gid(group)
+        if _group is None:
+            raise LookupError("no such group: {!r}".format(group))
+
+    os.chown(path, _user, _group)
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_shutil.py b/Lib/test/test_shutil.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_shutil.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_shutil.py
@@ -738,6 +738,65 @@
         self.assertGreaterEqual(usage.total, usage.used)
         self.assertGreater(usage.total, usage.free)
 
+    @unittest.skipUnless(UID_GID_SUPPORT, "Requires grp and pwd support")
+    @unittest.skipUnless(hasattr(os, 'chown'), 'requires os.chown')
+    def test_chown(self):
+
+        # cleaned-up automatically by TestShutil.tearDown method
+        dirname = self.mkdtemp()
+        filename = tempfile.mktemp(dir=dirname)
+        self._write_data(filename, 'testing chown function')
+
+        with self.assertRaises(ValueError):
+            shutil.chown(filename)
+
+        with self.assertRaises(LookupError):
+            shutil.chown(filename, user='non-exising username')
+
+        with self.assertRaises(LookupError):
+            shutil.chown(filename, group='non-exising groupname')
+
+        with self.assertRaises(TypeError):
+            shutil.chown(filename, b'spam')
+
+        with self.assertRaises(TypeError):
+            shutil.chown(filename, 3.14)
+
+        uid = os.getuid()
+        gid = os.getgid()
+
+        def check_chown(path, uid=None, gid=None):
+             s = os.stat(filename)
+             if uid is not None:
+                 self.assertEqual(uid, s.st_uid)
+             if gid is not None:
+                 self.assertEqual(gid, s.st_gid)
+
+        shutil.chown(filename, uid, gid)
+        check_chown(filename, uid, gid)
+        shutil.chown(filename, uid)
+        check_chown(filename, uid)
+        shutil.chown(filename, user=uid)
+        check_chown(filename, uid)
+        shutil.chown(filename, group=gid)
+        check_chown(filename, gid)
+
+        shutil.chown(dirname, uid, gid)
+        check_chown(dirname, uid, gid)
+        shutil.chown(dirname, uid)
+        check_chown(dirname, uid)
+        shutil.chown(dirname, user=uid)
+        check_chown(dirname, uid)
+        shutil.chown(dirname, group=gid)
+        check_chown(dirname, gid)
+
+        user = pwd.getpwuid(uid)[0]
+        group = grp.getgrgid(gid)[0]
+        shutil.chown(filename, user, group)
+        check_chown(filename, uid, gid)
+        shutil.chown(dirname, user, group)
+        check_chown(dirname, uid, gid)
+
 
 class TestMove(unittest.TestCase):