The authors agree that the surname derives from a given name of Greek origin. V. Blunda specifies that it comes from the Greek Antíochos, composed of antí, "against, opposite", and échō, "to have, to hold", with the sense of "the one who resists", and that in Sicilian onomastics it entered as a Greek personal name that later became a surname.

A. Bongioanni notes that it is a Greek name frequent in Sardinia, linked to the cult of a martyr saint venerated under the emperor Hadrian, patron of Iglesias, whose feast day is celebrated on 13 November. Bongioanni rejects the etymology proposed by Fumagalli —"enemy of vehicles"— as unconvincing.

E. Rossoni offers a different perspective: the surname would probably derive from the gentilic antioco, that is, "native of Antioch", with documented presence in the Palermo area. Rossoni also mentions, as a less likely possibility, a derivation from the Macedonian surname Antoci, recorded in the Ragusa area.