E. Rossoni proposes that the surname would derive from a nickname based on the archaic term droghetto, a brocade fabric generally of silk, quite heavy, used above all for upholstery and formerly also for garments, especially in Liguria and in the area of the Serenissima Republic. Rossoni notes that Droghetti is specific to the Ferrara area —with presence in localities such as Copparo, Berra, Masi Torello and Voghiera—, while the form Droghetto is considerably rarer and seems to be concentrated in Genoa.

F. De Laurentiis places the surname mainly in Emilia-Romagna and relates it to nicknames and trade names linked to the droghe understood as spices, that is, aromatic vegetable substances employed to season foods or for curative purposes, which would point to people who traded in them, such as the spicer or druggist. De Laurentiis adds that Droghetti could also be a variant of Draghetti, although in that case the more pertinent base would be the Venetan-Ferrarese dialectal term draghetti, which designated the ferrymen active on the river Po. This last interpretation would open two possibilities: that the surname refers to a place name associated with a ferry point, or to the trade of the ferryman himself.