E. Rossoni places this surname as characteristic of Liguria and Piedmont, with presence documented in Genoa, in Cairo Montenotte within the Savona area, in Turin, in Canelli and Asti within the Asti area, and in Acqui Terme and Alessandria within the Alessandria area. According to Rossoni, it would derive from the medieval Latin name Cirius, documented in a text of 1400 in Naples.

V. Blunda proposes, on the other hand, a Greek etymology: he derives it from kỳrios, a term that designated the lord or holder, and which served as the base of the Byzantine courtesy title kyr-, applied to persons of respect. Blunda links it to the same lexical family as Cirillo, Cirelli and Chiricosta.

From the perspective of Surnames in Italy, the most widespread origin refers to the personal name Ciro, spread in the Middle Ages by the cult of Saint Cyrus of Alexandria. That name, which comes from the Greek Kŷros and the Persian Kūruš, gave rise to patronymic forms such as Ciri and Cirio, as well as to regional diminutives and augmentatives. In Piedmont and Liguria, the graphic alternation between C- and Ch- is explained by the dialectal tendency to palatalise the sound /k/ before i or e, which led scribes and parish priests to record one same oral form in different ways.