E. Rossoni notes that the surname derives from the name of Greek origin Filomena or Filomeno, meaning "lover of song". He identifies specific zones of presence: one in the Avellino area and another in that of Cosenza, with the main nucleus in Martina Franca, in the Taranto area, and significant presence also in the Brindisi area. The variant Filomeni, very rare, is peculiar to the area of the Piceno. The variant Fulimeni seems specific to Porto Sant'Elpidio.

G. Rohlfs agrees on the Greek origin of the surname, but specifies it from the term φιλομήλα, which means "nightingale". He places it as a surname of Greek-Byzantine rooting, present in the province of Cosenza —specifically in Castrovillari and in the Calabro-Lucanian zone of Mormanno— and also in the Neapolitan sphere. Rohlfs interprets its survival as a reflection of the Byzantine presence in southern Italy and of the continuity of the Greek lexicon in the onomastics of that region.

Both authors agree in noting Calabria and southern Italy as zones of rooting of the surname, although they differ on the exact Greek etymon.