The authors agree that the surname Cottone has a Sicilian dialectal origin and derives from the word cuttuni, which in the dialect of Sicily designates cotton. E. De Felice notes that the base of the surname is a nickname or trade name formed from that term, and that the surname is spread in Sicily, especially in the Palermo area.

V. Blunda broadens the historical context: the cultivation of cotton was introduced in Sicily by the Arabs between the 9th and 11th centuries, together with citrus fruits, sugar cane and the artichoke, and prospered in the irrigated plains of the Palermitan Conca d'Oro and in the Catania area. The Sicilian cotton industry maintained relevance until the 18th century, when it was displaced by American production. Blunda adds that the surname could have originated in the trade of the cultivator or the carder of cotton, or in a nickname applied to the one who traded in the manufactured product.