Cereghino is a typically Ligurian surname, with its historical nucleus in the Tigullio, especially in Favale di Malvaro and in the Rapallo area (province of Genoa). In the Genoese dialect it is pronounced Cereghìn. The most accepted etymology links it to the dialectal term cerego —a northern variant of the Italian chierico—, coming from the Late Latin clericus (cleric, member of the clergy), so that Cereghino would be a diminutive or patronymic that designated the descendant or servant of a cleric, or the young man who received minor orders.

Some alternative hypotheses relate it to the place name Ceregato (Vicenza) or to the term cerro (Turkey oak). The Cereghino family, known by the dialectal nickname "Scialin", is famous for being a branch of popular singers of Favale di Malvaro converted to Waldensianism in the first half of the 19th century, and constitutes one of the most studied groups of oral tradition of the Ligurian interior.