The authors agree that the surname derives from the dialectal term aparo or apàru, linked to beekeeping.

E. Rossoni specifies that the term means "hive, box for bees", and indicates that the founding ancestor was engaged in beekeeping. He documents the transformation into a surname in a Palermo will of the year 1333 and in the second half of the 17th century with the priest don Tommaso Aparo of Ispica (Ragusa area).

V. Blunda, for the Sicilian variant, derives it from the dialectal word apàru ("beekeeper"), linked to a traditional rural trade. He notes that beekeeping was an important activity in the Sicilian rural economy since Antiquity, not only for the production of honey —a fundamental sweetener before the spread of sugar— but also for the wax needed for ecclesiastical liturgy. He adds that the trade gave rise to several surnames on the island, such as Apa, Mellaro or Fascellaro.