E. Rossoni documents this surname as a graphic variant of Cicoria, with the masculine ending in -o instead of -a. Both forms derive from a nickname based on the Italian term cicoria (chicory, an edible garden plant), applied to an ancestor who would have been a notable producer, gatherer or consumer of that vegetable. Rossoni notes that the base form Cicoria presents areas of concentration in central and southern Italy: in the Perugia, Viterbo and Rome areas; in the Potenza area; and in the region of Puglia, in the Bari, Foggia and Brindisi areas.

It is considered that the ultimate etymology goes back to the Latin cichorium, in turn from the Greek kichóreia, and that the nickname could have been applied in medieval onomastics both to those who cultivated or sold this plant and in a descriptive sense. Chicory had great relevance in the medieval Italian rural diet, consumed as a bitter vegetable and used as a coffee substitute in times of scarcity. The surname does not figure as an autonomous entry in the classic Italian onomastic repertoires, so that the proposed etymologies must be considered indicative.