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

Rossoni derives it from the medieval Latin name Alatius, documented in a writing of the 13th century.

Blunda, on the other hand, for the Sicilian variant derives it from the Germanic personal name Alaiza, linked to the root alja ("other, different"), a productive element in Lombard anthroponymy. He notes that, as an archaic name of Germanic origin, it preserved the spelling with intervocalic z- characteristic of medieval Italian. The reduced variant Lazio reflects the usual aphaeresis of the initial vowel in the phonetics of the Sicilian dialect.