E. Rossoni notes that the surname derives from a dialectal form of arconte, a name of Greek origin coming from the term archon, which designated a high Byzantine magistrate, with documented presence in Sicily.

V. Blunda agrees on the Greek etymon arcon, meaning "high magistrate", and specifies that the term belonged to the ancient and Byzantine Greek political lexicon. He adds that, in Sicily, the surname would have originally functioned as a nickname applied to the ancestor for his social authority or lordly bearing, and that over time it became a surname along the family line.