V. Blunda considers that it is a Sicilian surname of dialectal origin, linked to an artisanal trade. It derives from the dialectal word crivàru, meaning "maker or seller of sieves". The crivèddu was an indispensable utensil in Sicilian agriculture to clean the grain after threshing, separate flours of different finenesses or sieve pulses. Its manufacture required skill to stretch the perforated hide or the wire mesh over a hoop of steam-curved wood. As a surname it could have originated in the trade itself or in the nickname of the itinerant seller who travelled the villages at harvest time. Blunda notes that it forms a lexical pair with Crivello, referring to the utensil, within the same artisanal field.

P. Durante proposes, on the other hand, a Greek origin, from kribanos, a term that designates the baker.