The authors differ significantly in the origin of this surname. E. Rossoni notes that it derives from the dialectal term fazzalaro or fazzolaro, peculiar to the Greek dialects of southern Italy, which indicated the trade of hunter of wild doves or turtledoves. The base of these words would be the Greek term fassa, meaning "wild dove". According to Rossoni, it is a trade surname, arisen from the activity performed by the founder of the lineage. Geographically, he places it as typical of the Taurianova and Cittanova area, in the province of Reggio Calabria.

For his part, V. Blunda proposes a different origin and places it in Sicily. According to Blunda, the surname comes from the dialectal compound fàccia lària, with the literal meaning of "ugly face, coarse countenance". It would be a mocking nickname applied to an ancestor for his unattractive facial features, a habitual practice in the formation of Sicilian somatic surnames. This nickname would have circulated in popular speech until it became a hereditary surname.

Both proposals are independent of each other and point to different regions and motivations: a trade etymology of Greek root in Calabria, and a somatic nickname of dialectal base in Sicily. The surname therefore presents independent clusters of origin (ceppi).