The authors agree that the surname has a Greek-Byzantine origin and derives from a compound formed by the honorific title kyr- / kyrà- ("lord/lady") and the personal name Anna, with the meaning of "lady Anna".

G. Rohlfs documents the surname in the region of Basilicata —in the localities of Forenza, Pietragalla and Potenza— and links it to the Byzantine honorific onomastics. He notes that in Greece the equivalent form survives as a surname written Κυράνα, and reconstructs the etymon as κυρ' Anna, thus connecting it with a tradition of courtesy treatments that became a surname.

V. Blunda, for his part, reconstructs the etymon as Cyrà Anna and specifies that the initial element corresponds specifically to the feminine variant of the title, kyrà-. He interprets that the surname arose as a crystallisation of the habitual treatment given to a female ancestor. He also notes a parallel with other Sicilian surnames —such as Cilibrasi and Cilurzo— that use the masculine equivalent of the same title.