E. Rossoni proposes that the surname derives from a modification of the reduced form of the name Maffeo. As an early documentary reference, he mentions a Feus filius Angelerii, doctor of law and legal procurator, recorded in Siena in the second half of the 13th century. From the geographical point of view, Rossoni places the surname mainly in Campania and Basilicata, with specific presence in the Palermo and Reggio Calabria areas.

V. Blunda, on the other hand, proposes a different etymology of a feudal base and a specific regional reach. According to Blunda, it is a surname peculiar to Sicily, derived from the dialectal word feu, which means "fief": the territorial concession granted by the sovereign to a vassal under obligations of fidelity and military service, a central institution of Norman and Hohenstaufen Sicily that was maintained until the formal abolition of the feudal privileges in 1812. The surname could also have originated in a minor place name. Blunda expressly warns that the interpretation that associates it with the Spanish or Italian word feo —with the sense of "of unpleasant features"— is a false etymology, foreign to the medieval juridical lexicon from which it really comes.