E. Rossoni notes that this surname is peculiar to the Belluno area, with presence in localities such as Gosaldo, Sedico and Feltre. According to Rossoni, it would derive from a nickname based on the Ladin word chiehla, which evokes sweet and appetising things, but also a robust build of the founder of the lineage.

F. De Laurentiis proposes a different interpretation: he considers that the surname would be a variant of the surname chiesa ("church"), formed from the place name Chièsa, widely distributed in northern Italy, with presence in the Belluno area under the form Chiès.