The authors agree that this surname is of Greek origin and refers to the term for "pharaoh", the title of the sovereigns of ancient Egypt. G. Rohlfs notes that it derives from the Greek φαραών and that its presence is concentrated mainly in Calabria —in the city and province of Reggio Calabria, with zones such as Gioia Tauro, Siderno and the Aspromonte area—, as well as in the province of Cosenza (Praia); it also appears in Naples and in Sicily. Rohlfs adds that the surname coincides with the place name Faraone, the name of a mountain in the Barletta area.

V. Blunda, for his part, proposes that the surname arose as a nickname applied to an ancestor, whether for his authoritarian bearing or for his link to trade with Egypt in the Byzantine Mediterranean during the medieval period. This interpretation points to a concrete motivational origin that Rohlfs does not develop.