E. Rossoni notes that this surname derives from the medieval name Chimera, taken from the homonymous mythological creature, and that it is a surname arisen from the personal name of the founder of the lineage. Geographically, it is more widespread in Sicily, with main areas in the provinces of Caltanissetta, Palermo and Catania, and with very scarce presence also in Piedmont and in the centre-north of the country. The variant Chimeri, even rarer, appears almost exclusively in the Genoa area and in Rome.

V. Blunda offers a different etymology: the surname would come from the Greek cheimèra, linked to the term cheima, which designates the winter storm. According to this interpretation, the word motivated the surname as a nickname or as a microtoponym within the framework of the Greek-speaking tradition of Sicily during the Byzantine period.