E. De Felice notes that this surname comes from the transformation into a surname of Chécco, an abbreviated, familiar and affectionate form of Francesco (see Franceschi). It is spread in central-northern Italy, although it is frequent mainly in Tuscany and, for the base form, in Emilia-Romagna. The derived altered forms, such as Checchetti, Checchìn and Checchinato, are concentrated in the Veneto.

V. Blunda proposes, on the other hand, a different origin: he derives it from the Greek céces, a form of the Greek-Byzantine onomastic repertoire preserved in the Greek-speaking tradition of eastern Sicily. According to this interpretation, the term functioned as a hypocoristic that over time became fixed as a surname, following the habitual pattern of the Greek affectionate forms that crystallised into family names in that zone.

Both proposals are not necessarily mutually exclusive: the surname presents independent origins in different regions of Italy, with a Romance base in the centre-north and a possible Greek root in Sicily.