E. Rossoni proposes two routes of origin for this surname. The first derives it from a name or nickname based on an affectionate form of the Greek term katharos, meaning "immaculate", "clean" or "pure". The second suggests a toponymic derivation from places called Santa Catrini —a Sicilian dialectal expression for Santa Caterina—, present in various areas of Sicily, with presence documented in the Caltanissetta area, in particular in Mazzarino, and in the Enna area, in Nicosia.

V. Blunda agrees on the Greek root, although he specifies it in a different way: according to this author, the surname comes from the Greek Catrìnes, an abbreviated form of the name Caterina preserved in the Greek of Sicily. Blunda interprets its transformation into a surname as the result of the habitual hagiographic patronymic process, also noting that this origin is parallel, although by a different Greek route, to that of the surname Caterini.