E. Rossoni and V. Blunda differ on the origin of the surname.

Rossoni proposes two hypotheses. On the one hand, it could derive from the Frankish name Ailloud, in turn from the Germanic Agilwald (from agil, "blade", and waldan, "rule", meaning "good swordsman"). On the other, from the Norman name Allyre, Latinised as Allyrius, easily deformed by Sicilian speech. He recalls Saint Allyrius, a 4th-century bishop of Clermont, capital of the Auvergne (France).

Blunda, on the other hand, for the Sicilian variant derives it from the dialectal word agghialòru ("oil seller"), linked to a traditional trade of the food business. He notes that the olive oil trade was a fundamental activity of the Sicilian economy since Antiquity, and that the trade of the urban retailer gave rise to several parallel surnames, such as Ogglialoro, Ogliera or Ugghialoro, all referring to the same work.