F. Miranda notes that this surname derives from the Sicilian dialectal term chianetta, which designates a kind of bowl used by plumbers to draw water, although it also alludes to a helmet of flattened shape, similar to a bowl or hat. He also mentions the expression of thieves' cant ncarcari 'a chianetta a unu, equivalent to "to hit someone on the head". It is a typically Sicilian surname, with presence in the provinces of Agrigento, Catania, Syracuse, Palermo, Trapani, Messina and Enna, and some clusters —that is, specific and localised areas— in Campania, Lombardy and Lazio.

V. Blunda proposes, on the other hand, a toponymic etymology: chianètta would mean "small plain" in Sicilian dialect, and the surname would have arisen from a microtoponym that described a flat plot of small extension, characteristic of the agricultural landscape of the interior of Sicily. Blunda also observes that this surname forms a pair with Chianello, derived from the same root with an alternative diminutive suffix, in a variation typical of Sicilian onomastics where the opposition -èddu / -ètta distinguishes parallel forms over one same geographical concept.