E. Rossoni identifies this surname as characteristic of the Salento area —that is, the southernmost zone of the region of Puglia, in southern Italy—. According to Rossoni, it would be a variant of the Greek surname Kiritsi or Kiritsis, although he also points to the possibility that it derives from a nickname based on the Greek word koritsi, with the sense of "girl" or "young woman".

V. Blunda proposes a different etymology: he derives it from the Greek cyrìtses, a form that he links to the Byzantine onomastic repertoire and frames within the family of surnames in kyr-/cyr-, associated with the sphere of Greek courtesy. Blunda also notes an ending characteristic of the Greek spoken in Sicily.

Both authors agree on the Greek origin of the surname, although they differ in the base form proposed and in the area of rooting: Rossoni places it in the far south of Puglia, while Blunda relates it to the Greek of Sicily.