The authors agree in noting the Greek origin of the surname, although they differ on the specific form that originates it and on its geographical distribution.

G. Rohlfs links it to the Greek form Χαρός and documents it in the province of Reggio Calabria, in localities such as Ardore and Riace, noting also its coincidence with the contrada Farò of Cessaniti. For Rohlfs, the surname reflects the Byzantine presence in southern Italy.

V. Blunda, on the other hand, derives it from the Greek faròs, meaning "lighthouse", that is, the tower of luminous signalling on the coast. According to this author, the surname would have arisen as a nickname applied to an ancestor for his link to that type of maritime signalling, or as a microtoponym. Blunda records it in relation to Sicily and places it in the same semantic field as surnames such as Faras and Faria.

Both proposals share the Greek root, but diverge on the concrete etymological form and on the motivation of the surname: for Rohlfs it is a term of Greek-Byzantine origin linked to the historical substrate of Calabria, while for Blunda the base is a word of descriptive or topographical use peculiar to the Sicilian sphere.