E. Rossoni relates this surname to the old Algerian place name Bugea, cited by Matteo Bandello in his Novelle and documented in the Annales Pisani of the 12th century, which would indicate the provenance of the ancestor from that North African city. Rossoni notes that Bugea is typical of the Agrigento area, in Sicily. The variant Bugia, much rarer, presents a cluster in Palma di Montechiaro, also in the Agrigento area, and another in Caltanissetta.

V. Blunda proposes instead a Greek etymology: it derives from the Greek personal name bycèas, parallel to the surname Bucè that the same author records with a close etymon. According to Blunda, the Italianised spelling resolves the Greek combination yc as g, giving rise to the form Bugea through the family transmission of the original personal name.

Both hypotheses agree in placing the surname in Sicily, although they differ in their starting point: Rossoni favours a toponymic origin related to North Africa, while Blunda points to a Greek etymon of anthroponymic character.