Surname that could correspond to a diminutive of baco, bacherozzolo, deriving then from a nickname attributed to the founding ancestor and linked to his trade of silkworm breeder. It could also be a diminutive of the obsolete Italian word bacolo (Latin baculum), which designates the staff carried by bishops or carried before them; in that case "Bacolini" would allude to the bearers of croziers or to people of the church who had dealings with those objects.

Note: Capostipite (Italian, from capo "head" + stipite from the Latin stipes "trunk") designates the founding ancestor of a lineage, the first known bearer of the surname from whom all the family branches descend. In onomastics it applies specifically to the original individual to whom the nickname, name or trade was attributed that was later fixed hereditarily as a surname.