The authors differ on the origin of the surname. E. Rossoni places it in the Pavia area and suggests that it could indicate a provenance from the French province of Berry, or be related to the noble house of the Dukes of Berry, among whom the patron Jean de France, duc de Berry (1340–1416), uncle of Charles VI of France, is recalled.

V. Blunda, on the other hand, proposes a Sicilian origin and derives it from the Greek Berrè, a personal name or nickname preserved in the Byzantine transmission of southern Italy. According to this author, the Italianised spelling of the surname reflects the consonant doubling characteristic of Sicilian, and it would have been formed from that original personal name through its transformation into a surname.