The authors agree that Borghese derives from the medieval appellative borghese ("inhabitant of a borough, citizen"), as opposed to the villano or inhabitant of the countryside.

E. De Felice describes it as a rare surname in the north and more frequent in the centre-south of Italy. It continues the medieval names Borghése, Borghesano and Borghigiàno, derived from appellatives and nicknames formed from borghése, borghesano or borghigiàno, meaning "inhabitant of a borough, of a city", "citizen", opposed therefore to villano or rustic.

B. Zuanella presents it as a Friulian surname that arrived in the Natisone valley at the beginning of the 19th century, coming from Cividale del Friuli and specifically from the Borgo Brossana. It derives from the appellative and nickname Borghes, which originally designated the inhabitant of an urban borough, as opposed to the "villano", the peasant or inhabitant of the villa, as the rural population was formerly called —a word preserved above all in Friulian toponymy, in forms such as Vileuarbe, Vilalte, Vilesantine or Vilegnove—. It arose with the suffix -es from the noun borg. It appears in Biarzo, next to San Pietro al Natisone, in 1832, according to a marriage deed. In 1867 it emigrated to Vernasso, when Antonio Borgesc married Anna Maria Fior and settled in the wife's house, thus replacing the surname Fior, which had reached Vernasso from Verzegnis, in the Carnia.

Zuanella recalls that Santo Fior was one of several cargnelli who arrived from the Carnia around 1800 in the Natisone valleys, where they probably practised the trade of weavers. To the cargnelli of the 17th and 18th centuries were added those of the 19th, with surnames such as Dionisio, De Colle, Venier, Mentil, Artico, Chiavotti, Adami, Mainardis and Di Vora. Of these, only Di Vora —originating from Cercivento, arrived in San Pietro in 1838— and Adami were preserved in the zone.

Zuanella also documents it in the municipal territory of Santa Maria la Longa between 1583 and 1641, with the first documentation of "Giacomo Borghese" (Cjamin di Buri). Among the later records appear, in 1645, a mention of the finding of the body of a newborn buried in a garden near the house inhabited by Francesco Borghese, in Santa Maria la Longa; in 1649, Fausto Borghese, of Isè, diocese of Brescia, a soldier in Palmanova, about 20 years of age; in 1672, Battista Borghese, resident in a hamlet near the mountain of Buri; in 1675, Domenica Borghesa, of Santa Maria la Longa, about 60 years old; and in 1732, Jacobus Borghese, in Udine. In antiquity the borghês was the inhabitant of a borough; over time, the term came to designate the citizen, the person who lived in the city.