The authors agree that the surname derives from the medieval name Coraza or from the word coraza, which designates an armour of leather or metal that protects the torso. This second path would point to a nickname of military origin, referring either to the soldier's trade of the founder of the lineage, or to an outstanding physical or moral resistance.

E. Rossoni documents the medieval name Coraza in the figure of Coraza Ubaldini, exiled together with the poet Dante Alighieri from Florence in 1302, according to the Chronicle of Dino Compagni. Rossoni also records the presence of the man of letters and scientist Ercole Corazzi in the Bologna area at the beginning of the 18th century.

F. De Laurentiis specifies that the base of the surname are nicknames or trade names of a military character formed from the term coraza, defined as an armour of the torso composed of two pieces of leather or metal.

As for its distribution, Rossoni notes that Corazza spreads mainly in northern Italy, especially in the Veneto and in the Bologna and Ferrara areas, as well as in the province of Rome. Corazzi is concentrated in a central strip that covers the Rimini, Pesaro, Florence, Arezzo and Perugia areas. Corazzini appears in a scattered way in the centre-north, with specific presence in the Massa-Carrara, Rome and Pescara areas.