The authors agree that this surname has as its base the term corona, although they differ on the etymological nuances and on the motivations that could have given rise to the initial nickname.

E. De Felice notes that the surname derives from a nickname formed from corona (in Sardinian koròna), linked especially to its metaphorical meanings of "sovereign power" and "council or collective body endowed with decision-making and consultative powers". In particular, he highlights the Sardinian use of the term to designate a council or college with political, administrative and judicial functions, so that the nickname could indicate the one who represented that power or was a member of said body. De Felice places it in southern Italy, in Sicily and in the southern part of Sardinia.

E. Rossoni broadens this approach and notes that the surname would derive from the term corona understood as an organ of government, in a similar way to how surnames of the type "judge", "bailiff" or "captain" were formed. He adds that a derivation from the Spanish term coronel is also possible, either to indicate belonging to the military hierarchy or with a humorous sense. For the Trentino area, he also proposes a possible toponymic derivation, for example from Mezzacorona. Rossoni also provides a relevant historical fact: in medieval Sardinia, the term Corona —with a capital letter— designated the judicial assemblies of the giudicati kingdoms and of the later Catalan-Aragonese kingdom; the most important was the Corona de Logu, the highest court of the kingdom. He documents bearers of the surname among the signatories of the Peace of Eleonora of 1388 and in the Condaghe of Santa Maria de Bonarcado, a manuscript of the 11th to 13th centuries.

V. Blunda, for his part, proposes a different etymology: the surname would come from the Greek corṓnē, a term that designates both the crown or royal ring and the crow, a corvid bird. According to this author, the polysemy of the Greek word would have motivated the nickname in either of the two senses. Blunda circumscribes this origin to Sicily and notes as a parallel surname Coronèo.