E. Rossoni proposes that the surname could derive from the place name Cerete, a locality of the Bergamo area, with presence also in the Cremona area.

R. Brondolo documents the surname in northern Italy —Piedmont, Lombardy and Liguria— as well as in the Swiss canton of Ticino. He notes that in general it refers to the term scerr, meaning "Turkey oak", a species of oak. For the specific case of Ceriana, Brondolo also considers the possibility that it derives from the Latin cirrus, with the sense of "curl", or from the property of an individual called Cerius.