The authors agree that this surname is of Sicilian origin and derives from the dialectal word calòfaru, meaning "carnation". E. Rossoni notes that it would have arisen as a nickname based on that term.

V. Blunda broadens the analysis and classifies it within the group of phytonymic surnames, that is, surnames derived from names of plants. According to Blunda, the surname could have originated in a nickname applied to one who cultivated carnations, or else in a microtoponym related to a garden or orchard where these flowers abounded. He adds that the carnation had a prominent place in traditional Sicilian gardening and in the popular symbolism of the island, linked to religious celebrations and to love rites of the folkloric repertoire.