F. Miranda notes that this surname, together with the graphic variants Colica and Colico, has an uncertain meaning and origin. One possible explanation is that it derives from a modification of the surname Colluca, typically Calabrian —present in the Vibo Valentia area, in localities such as Mileto, Cessaniti and Briatico—, which in turn would derive from the Greek surname Kolokas, considered an alteration of the name Nicola. Miranda adds that Collica is also the name of a ridge of the island of Elba, a place name that derives from the Latin colliculus, meaning "height".

V. Blunda, on the other hand, proposes a different etymology: the surname would come from the Greek còllics, a term that designates a "rustic loaf of bread". According to Blunda, the word would have given rise to the surname as a nickname applied to an ancestor for his baker's trade or for some trait associated with coarse bread in the Greek-Byzantine popular tradition of southern Italy.

As for its geographical distribution, Miranda indicates that the form Collica is infrequent and is concentrated mainly in Sicily, with presence in the provinces of Messina, Palermo, Trapani, Agrigento, Enna, Catania and Ragusa, in addition to very small clusters in Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna, Puglia, Tuscany and Lazio. The variant Colica appears scattered between Lombardy, Calabria, Sicily, Piedmont, Veneto, Lazio, Campania and Umbria, with presence in Sicily in the provinces of Messina, Catania and Enna. The variant Colico is distributed between Lombardy, Liguria, Tuscany, Lazio, Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont, Calabria and Sicily, where it is recorded in the province of Enna.