F. Miranda notes that this surname is very infrequent and is distributed in barely fifteen Italian municipalities, with predominant presence in Sicily and in the region of Campania, and specific zones also in Lazio, Tuscany, Lombardy, Piedmont and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In Sicily, Miranda documents its presence in the Enna area —concretely in Catenanuova—, in the Catania area —in Caltagirone, Catania, Mineo, Palagonia and Militello in Val di Catania— and in the Caltanissetta area.

Both authors agree that the surname is of Greek origin, from the term dýscolos. V. Blunda specifies its meaning as "difficult to please, irascible", and links it to the popular Greek-Byzantine tradition of creating nicknames from traits of character: the term would have been applied to an ancestor for his intractable temperament, becoming over time a surname. Miranda, for his part, describes it as a trait of character of the first bearer, referring in particular to a "particularly lively" character.