E. Rossoni notes that the form Chinigo, extremely rare, is peculiar to the Cosenza area, in Calabria. The accented variant Chinigò, somewhat less rare, seems to be concentrated in San Giorgio Albanese and Corigliano Calabro, also in the Cosenza area. According to Rossoni, this surname has a definite medieval origin and would go back to the migrations of Balkan populations that abandoned the mountainous areas on the border between Greece and Albania to escape the Turkish invasion. The surname would reflect the trade of the founder of the lineage: in Greek, κυνηγετής (kynegetes) means "hunter".

V. Blunda agrees on the Greek root, although he records it under the form cynegòs, likewise with the meaning of "hunter". However, Blunda links the surname to Sicily, where he interprets it as a professional nickname applied to the one who dedicated himself to hunting, or as a reference to the venatorial skill of an ancestor during the period of Greek presence in eastern Sicily.

Both authors agree on the Greek etymology and on the occupational sense of the surname, but they differ in the area of rooting: Rossoni places it in Calabria, with special presence in communities of Albanian origin, while Blunda associates it with Sicily and with the cultural legacy of Greek colonisation on that island.