The authors propose very different origins for the surname Bruschetta.

F. De Laurentiis derives it from a nickname based on the term brusca, "a hard brush suitable for various uses", or on bruschetta, "a slice of toasted bread, rubbed with garlic and seasoned with salt and olive oil", typical of the cooking of central Italy.

V. Blunda presents it as a Sicilian surname of dialectal origin, linked to popular cooking. He derives it from the dialectal word bruschèttu, meaning "rib section of pork". As a surname it could have originated in the trade of the butcher or, more probably, as a nickname applied to a thin person with marked ribs, a motivation akin to that of Brischetta (referring to the ribs of sheep). He recalls that pork was a fundamental element of the Sicilian rural domestic economy, slaughtered in the cold months to supply the family with cured meats and lard throughout the year.