E. De Stefani places this surname in the area of the Carnia —a mountainous region of northern Friuli, in the province of Udine—, with documented presence in localities such as Mena (a hamlet of Cavazzo Carnico), Paularo and Tolmezzo, as well as in Casiacco (a hamlet of Vito d'Asio, in the province of Pordenone), Chiusaforte, Forgaria nel Friuli, San Daniele del Friuli and Udine. Its documentary attestation in Mena goes back at least to the beginning of the 16th century.

According to De Stefani, it is a Friulian microtoponymic surname derived from the word baràz, which designates the blackberry bush or, more broadly, any wild thorny plant. The Friulian word barazzéit names the bramble thicket, and barazzùt is attested as a place name in several Carnian localities —among them, the "luogo detto Barazut" in Prato Carnico, documented since the end of the 17th century—. The original bearers would have been those who lived near a baràz, a barazzéit or a barazzùt, and from there the name became a surname. De Stefani also notes as a related form by the same etymon the surname Baracetti, attested in Codroipo.

E. Rossoni considers likely a derivation from the dialectal term baruz (bramble thicket) with the diminutive -ut, which coincides in essence with De Stefani's proposal, although Rossoni also suggests as an alternative a connection with dialectal variations of the term barattiere. As a historical reference, Rossoni mentions the painter Felice Barazzutti, native of Gemona del Friuli and active in the second half of the 18th century.