The authors agree that this surname —together with its variants Calabrese, Càlabro and Calabrò— derives from gentilics that designated the inhabitant or native of the region of Calabria.

E. De Felice notes that the variant Calabrò has a particular history: it continues the Griko name kalabrós, attested in Calabrian documents of 1053 and Messinese ones of 1264 and 1304. This term, in its use as a gentilic, did not refer exclusively to Calabria but also to the Salento area —that is, the southernmost zone of the Puglia region, in southern Italy—. In addition, De Felice indicates that Calabrò can derive from the homonymous place name, a small village near Mileto, in the province of Catanzaro.

As for the geographical distribution, De Felice specifies that Calabrese is very frequent in Sicily, Calabria, Puglia, Basilicata and the Naples area, while Calabrò and Calabretta are peculiar to Calabria. The variant Calàbria, rarer, extends towards central and northern Italy.

E. Rossoni considers, more generally, that the surname simply indicates the region of provenance of the family, without going deeper into the variants or their distribution.