The authors agree that the surname is of Greek origin and derives from the term agròs ("field, plot of land").

E. Rossoni derives it from a nickname based on this term, probably given to founders of the lineage who were small landowners.

V. Blunda, for the Sicilian variant, derives it from the Greek etymon Agròs, formed from the lexicon designating rural space. He notes that it is a central root of the Hellenic vocabulary, also present in modern words such as "agronomist" or "agricultural". He adds that in Sicily, colonised by Greeks from the 8th century BC, the word described the cultivated stretches around the poleis, and the surname probably arose as a toponymic designation for someone who came from areas of open countryside.