The authors agree that this surname is of Sicilian origin and derives from the dialectal word chicchirìddu, which designates the crown or the highest part of the head. E. Rossoni notes that Chicchirillo, of very scarce appearance, is peculiar to the Palermo area, while the variant Chirchirillo is located specifically in Trabia and Altavilla Milicia, also in the Palermo area, and Circhirillo has its origin in Alessandria della Rocca, in the Agrigento area, and in Palermo. According to Rossoni, all these surnames would derive from nicknames that alluded to those who came from very high zones of a mountain or presented some particularity in the upper part of the head.

V. Blunda agrees on the appellative motivation of the term, but specifies that the nickname could have been applied to concrete and visible physical features, such as partial baldness, a distinctive lock or a particular shape of the skull, which responds to a habitual pattern in Sicilian surnames of a descriptive character. Blunda also adds that the variant Chirchirillo reflects an internal consonantal alternation frequent in the oral transmission of the surname between different zones of Sicily.