The authors agree that this surname derives from the term chiesa (church), coming from the Latin ecclesia, in turn taken from the Greek ekklesia ("assembly, meeting"), and that originally it indicated the residence of a family in the vicinity of a church or in a locality that bore that name. The analysis of surnames of Amici di Alessandria (see reference) documents its presence in the onomastics of Tortona from 1224, when among the Consuls of the city figure Ubaldus de Ecclesia, Albertus de Ecclesia and Opizio de Ecclesia.

E. De Felice notes that Chiesa spread mainly in northern Italy and in Tuscany, with greater frequency in Liguria and Lombardy, and that the variant Chiès refers to the place name Chiès d'Alpago, in the Belluno area, being characteristic of that area. E. Rossoni broadens the geographical distribution: he indicates that Chiesa appears throughout Italy, although with greater concentration in the western area of the north, and also detects presence in Lazio and in the Catania area. The variant Chiese seems peculiar to Puglia; Chiesi shows areas in Emilia —especially in the Reggio Emilia area— and in the Florence area.

Rossoni proposes that these variants would derive from nicknames linked to place names that contain the word chiesa, such as Chiesa di Rossano in the Massa area, Chiesa Nuova in the Ferrara area or Chiesanuova in the Turin area, among others. He does not rule out that in some cases the origin was a nickname related to a particular religious devotion of the founder of the lineage. The forms Chiesini and Chiesino are practically unique.