The authors agree that Bifara is a Sicilian surname formed from a nickname descriptive of the face, with the meaning of "big nose".

E. Rossoni derives it from a nickname based on the Greek-Calabrian dialectal term bifara ("big nose"), which probably stressed a physical particularity of the ancestors. He notes that Bifara is typically Sicilian, specific to Partinico (in the Palermo area). The variant Bifari is almost unique and peculiar to the south, while Bifaro has a cluster in the Naples and Benevento area and another in the Puglia region (Foggia and Brindisi areas).

V. Blunda agrees in presenting it as a Sicilian surname of dialectal origin, formed from a nickname descriptive of the face. It comes from the dialectal word bbìfara, "big nose". As a surname it may have originated in a nickname applied to a person characterised by a prominent nose, a common motivation in Sicilian surnames descriptive of facial features. He also recalls that it forms part of the extensive repertoire of surnames based on visible physical defects that characterise the mocking onomastics of the island.