F. De Laurentiis notes that this surname is typical of the upper Veneto and links it to the place name Cancia, present in the Belluno and Treviso areas.

Surnames in Italy offers a broader perspective: the surname, together with its variant Canciani, has an origin closely linked to Friuli-Venezia Giulia and derives from the personal name Cancianus, used in the Middle Ages. This name refers to the Christian martyrs Canzio, Canziano and Canzianilla, whose devotion was particularly intense in the northeast of Italy. As early as 1306 the name Cancianus appears documented in Cividale, and in 1656 the consolidated use of the surname with a patronymic function is recorded in Prato Carnico. For the Canciani of the Gorizia area, a possible toponymic origin linked to the locality of San Canzian d'Isonzo is also noted.

It is also recorded that, according to the research of Menegus Tamburini, in the Cadore there were De Cancian families who between the 14th and 17th centuries would have taken their name from the place name Cancia, a fact that connects with what De Laurentiis notes. Among the documented variants are Slovene and Friulian forms such as Kocjan, Cociancig, Cociani and Coceano, which reflect the linguistic frontier peculiar to the region.