The authors agree that it is a typically Sicilian surname, with its main cluster in the Messina area, where it appears in localities such as Novara di Sicilia, Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, Fondachelli-Fantina and Rodì-Milici. F. Miranda broadens the distribution within Sicily, noting presence also in the Catania area —in Paternò, Gravina di Catania and Mascalucia—, in the Palermo area —in Pollina and Campofelice di Roccella— and in the Enna area, specifically in Centuripe.

As for the etymology, the authors agree in presenting two main hypotheses. The first proposes that Buemi would be a contracted form of the surname Buscemi; Miranda specifies that this would derive from the Arabic abū-sāmah, meaning "the one who has a pronounced mole", originating as a nickname of the first bearer that later became a surname. The second hypothesis, attributed by Miranda to the linguist Rohlfs, interprets it as an ethnic name derived from the Italian adjective boemo, that is, "coming from Bohemia", a people who in Sicily held the concession of the gabelle —taxes or leases—. E. Rossoni gathers both possibilities without attributing them to specific sources.