G. Rohlfs considers that this surname is of Greek-Byzantine origin and documents it in localities of the province of Cosenza —Lago, Corigliano and San Demetrio Corone— and of the province of Catanzaro, specifically in Petilia Policastro. Rohlfs compares it with the Greek surname Pharàkos and notes that it could also have an Albanian origin, as a reflection of the Greek-Albanian substrate of southern Italy.

V. Blunda derives it from the Greek faràcos, interpreting it as a derivative with an ending in -acos, characteristic of Byzantine Greek. According to Blunda, this form was transmitted to eastern Sicily during the period of Greek presence and became fixed as a surname in the local Greek-speaking tradition during the medieval period.

Both authors agree, then, on a Greek-Byzantine origin, although their analyses point to different regions: Rohlfs places it in Calabria and opens the possibility of an Albanian route, while Blunda links it to eastern Sicily and underlines the morphological mechanism of its formation.