E. De Stefani notes that this surname was originally a nickname that the people of the village gave to persons in some way linked to a religious trade, for example because a son was a priest, and that over time it became a surname. This same motivation gave rise, in other areas of Italy, to the surname Chierici, and in Trieste to Chierego. De Stefani documents it in Forni di Sopra, a locality of the Carnia —a mountainous area of northern Friuli, in the province of Udine—, from the end of the 16th century, noting that it is rare in the rest of Friuli. He also records presence in Cimolais, a municipality bordering Forni di Sopra belonging to the province of Pordenone.

E. Rossoni considers it clearly Lombard and derives it from the Latin name Clericus, with the sense of "dedicated to the Lord". Rossoni documents traces from the 14th century and mentions that in the 17th century a family of origin from the Como area was an important merchant family in Milan, which came to acquire fiefs in the Cuggiono area.

The surname therefore presents independent clusters of origin arisen in different regions without direct relation between them: one in the Lombard sphere and another in the Friulian area.