E. Rossoni considers that this surname is probably a transcription error of Cafà, and proposes two possible origins. The first links it with the Byzantine city of Caffa, on the Black Sea, a possible place of provenance of a family that would have emigrated before the arrival of the Turks. The second points to a nickname derived from the Arabic term akfàs, meaning "bow-legged", although Rossoni does not rule out either of the two hypotheses. The surname is documented especially in the Caltanissetta area, in Sicily.

V. Blunda, on the other hand, proposes a different etymology: he derives it from the Greek Caifàs, the Byzantine form of the Aramaic name of the high priest mentioned in the Gospels. According to Blunda, this name entered Sicilian onomastics through the liturgy and the calendar of saints of Eastern tradition, and over time became a surname along the family line. The variant Caiffa would represent a graphic adaptation of the same etymon.