The authors differ on the origin and distribution of the surname. E. De Stefani considers it probable that it is a variant of the surname Cimador, linked to the Friulian term cimadôr ("cloth shearer"), although he also proposes, with less probability, a connection with cima in the sense of "summit of the mountain". According to De Stefani, the surname is documented in Friuli from the mid-14th century, and would come from Cadunea, a hamlet of Tolmezzo, where the form Cimi is recorded from the 16th century. Later it settled in Piano d'Arta, in the Carnia —a mountainous area of northern Friuli, in the province of Udine—, and also has presence in the Veneto.

E. Rossoni, on the other hand, links it to the medieval name Cima, documented in Florence in a writing of 13 July 1273, and notes its diffusion in Lazio, in the Forlì area, in the Lucca area and in a scattered way in the western centre-north of Italy. Rossoni also records derived variants: Cimatti, peculiar to Romagna, especially between Faenza and Ravenna, with its transformation into a surname documented in Forlì in the 17th century; and Cimetti, present in Grosio, in the Sondrio area, and in Olgiate Comasco and Bizzarrone, in the Como area.