The authors propose very different origins for the surname Butticè, both Sicilian.

E. Rossoni describes it as typically Sicilian, peculiar to the Agrigento area, especially of Raffadali, Agrigento, Favara, Porto Empedocle and Palermo. He derives it from a dialectal nickname formed on the diminutive of the word butti ("cask"), which would highlight the chubby build of the ancestor, so pronounced as to call him "little barrel".

V. Blunda includes it in the group of Sicilian surnames formed with bū- ("father of"). He derives it from the etymon bū dağāğ, meaning "chicken merchant" or "father of the hens", a probable occupational nickname applied to poultry traders.