The authors agree that the surname has a Greek or Greek-Byzantine origin and is related to the hunting of birds by means of traps. G. Rohlfs specifies that it derives from the Greek κατρικουλᾶς, "the one who makes or sells catrículas", in relation to the Calabrian dialectal term catrìcula, which designates a kind of trap for birds. Rohlfs documents its presence in the province of Catanzaro, in localities such as Soverato and the Stróngoli area, and also records a Neapolitan form, Catricolà.

E. Rossoni places the surname especially in Chiaravalle Centrale, within the province of Catanzaro. P. Durante proposes an alternative etymology from the Greek katà thrix, which would likewise point to the idea of hunting with traps or nets, although without going into further detail. V. Blunda, for his part, considers it a surname of Sicilian and dialectal origin, likewise derived from catrìcula, and notes that it could have arisen both from the trade of the maker of these traps and from the hunter who used them, a habitual subsistence activity in the rural communities of Sicily.

The surname therefore presents independent clusters of origin in different regions of southern Italy —Calabria and Sicily—, with local forms and traditions that converge in the same root related to small game.