The authors agree in noting that this is a surname of Sicilian origin, with a presence concentrated in the Catania area. E. Rossoni specifies the municipalities of Vizzini, Catania, Grammichele and Licodia Eubea as the main cores, and proposes that the surname would derive from the term "rosa" (the flower), possibly alluding to the presence of a rose bush near the family dwelling.

F. Miranda broadens the geographical distribution and includes, besides the municipalities cited by Rossoni, localities in the Enna area —Valguarnera Caropepe and Catenanuova— and in the Syracuse area —Lentini, Augusta and Palazzolo Acreide—, as well as small specific pockets in Lombardy, Piedmont, Lazio, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna. As for the origin, Miranda considers that the surname could have arisen from a given name or from a byname linked to the colour red or to the rose flower, perhaps applied to people with reddish hair or complexion, in a form parallel to the surname Rosso.

Miranda also notes that the article Li —like La or Le— placed before the surname is characteristic of the surnames of southern Italy, especially the Sicilian ones. These forms belong to Old Italian and to the regional dialects of the South, unlike the modern articles i and gli.