E. Rossoni notes that the surname Chitari, together with the form Chitarra, are almost unique and seem to be of Sicilian origin. In the case of Chitarra, there is also a small area of presence in Piazza Armerina, in the Enna area. Rossoni links these forms, together with the variants Chitarro, Chitarrini, Chitarroni and the term chitarrone, to the semantic field of stringed musical instruments: the chitarrone was a kind of lute, and the surname would suggest that the founders of the lineage played that type of instrument. The derived forms present different distributions: Chitarrini, very rare, appears in Lazio, with presence in the Viterbo area and in Rome; Chitarroni, likewise rare, seems to be from the Ancona area.

V. Blunda proposes a different etymology for the Sicilian form: he derives it from the Greek chytares, a term that designated the smelter of metals in the context of the metallurgical lexicon of the Byzantine period. Blunda records this surname together with the form Chitè, which appears in the immediately following entry of his work, and considers that both share the same lexical field linked to the metallurgical trade. This interpretation diverges from the musical hypothesis put forward by Rossoni and opens the possibility of a professional origin linked to the Greek craft tradition in Sicily.