F. Miranda proposes that the surname derives from the Greek φώς - φωτός, meaning "light, illumination, wisdom". He also posits two possible alternative derivations: the truncation of the medieval name Fotinus or of the Byzantine Greek Fotius. In this last case, Miranda notes that the diffusion of the name Fotius in the Christian East was linked to the veneration of Photius the Great, patriarch of Constantinople in the 9th century, a central theological figure of Eastern Christianity and a saint of the Orthodox Church. He also points to the possibility that the surname derives from trades related to light and fire.

G. Rohlfs agrees on the Greek-Byzantine origin and on the root φῶς ("light"), and indicates that in Greece the form Photis survives as a surname. Rohlfs documents its presence in Calabria —in the cities of Catanzaro, Cosenza and Reggio Calabria, as well as in the Mèlito area within the province of Reggio Calabria and in Briàtico within the province of Catanzaro—, and also records it as a Neapolitan and Sicilian surname.

G. P. Holmes agrees with the Greek etymology of "light" and mentions, like Miranda, the possible relation with trades linked to light and fire, without adding new elements. P. Durante also gathers the Greek origin and notes as meanings "light" and "man", the latter referring to the Greek word phòs in its sense of "human being", a sense that does not appear in the other sources.

Geographically, Miranda describes a wide distribution throughout Italy, with especially notable presence in Sicily —where the surname appears in all its provinces, with concentrations in the Messina, Catania, Agrigento and Syracuse areas— and also in Calabria, Lombardy, Lazio, Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany, Campania, Emilia-Romagna and Puglia.