E. Rossoni notes that this is a surname typical of Puglia, concentrated in the province of Bari, which would derive from the Latin cognomen Liberius. As a historical bearer of that name, Rossoni mentions the writer Petrus Marcellinus Felix Liberius (465–554), and he also recalls that it was the name of a Pope who reigned between 352 and 366.

A. Bongioanni approaches the surname from its origin as a Latin given name and highlights the figure of that same 4th-century Pope, to whom he attributes the beginning of the construction of the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore —also known as Santa Maria ad Nives—, whose feast day is celebrated on 23 September. Bongioanni adds that in Liguria the corresponding form is Berio, a regional variant of the same name.