P. Durante proposes a Greek origin for this surname, derived from the term koutros, meaning "potter".

V. Blunda offers a different and more developed interpretation. For Blunda, the surname is of Sicilian origin and comes from the dialectal word cutuli, which designates the pebbles or stones of a torrent. The plural form of the term evokes the stony bed of the seasonal ciumi of Sicily, watercourses that remain dry for most of the year and are covered with rolled stones. As a surname, it could have originated in a minor place name that designated a house located beside a stony torrent. Blunda links it lexically with the surnames Cuticchio and Cutino, which share the same semantic field.