The authors agree that this surname has its main concentration in Sardinia, where it has been rooted since medieval times. They also agree in noting significant presence in eastern Sicily, in Liguria and in the Vicenza area.

E. De Felice defines it as a surname formed from a nickname or trade name linked to carta, in the sense of "contract, notarial or administrative act", probably extended to the one who drafted such documents.

F. Miranda specifies that in Sardinia the term comes directly from the Latin charta, with which is designated not common paper —which in Sardinian is called su papìru or su papèri, from the Latin paper— but a written document, a book or another textual medium. E. Rossoni adds that the alternative as a trade name points to the cartaio, that is, the producer or seller of paper.

Rossoni also notes that the surname is documented widely among the signatories of the Peace of Eleonora of 1388 and in the medieval Sardinian condaghe —ecclesiastical and patrimonial registers drafted in medieval Sardinian—. Miranda broadens the geographical distribution: the surname appears in about a thousand municipalities of all the Italian regions, including Lazio, Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Campania and Puglia.