The authors differ as to the origin of the surname. E. Rossoni links it directly to the place name Cerami, a locality of Sicily, and notes that Cirami would be a dialectal variant of the same. Rossoni documents presence of the surname in areas of Palermo (Petralia Soprana, Cefalù, Castellana Sicula, Petralia Sottana), Caltanissetta, Catania and Marsala, while the variant Cirami appears in the Bronte area (Catania) and in the Agrigento area.

V. Blunda, on the other hand, proposes a different etymological origin: it derives from the Greek kerámis, a term that designates the tile or the brick, that is, fired clay. According to this interpretation, the surname would have functioned originally as a professional nickname applied to the potter or maker of tiles. Blunda also establishes a link with the surname Ciaramida, recorded in another entry of his work, for sharing the same Greek root related to ceramics.

Both proposals are not necessarily mutually exclusive: the place name Cerami could itself have a Greek base linked to ceramics, given the strong Greek imprint on the toponymy of Sicily.