The authors agree that this surname derives from Guccio, a medieval hypocoristic formed by aphaeresis —that is, by the loss of the initial syllable— from affectionate diminutives such as Uguccio or Arriguccio, themselves derived from names such as Ugo, Arrigo or Berlinghiero. E. De Felice also notes the forms Guzzo, Arriguzzo and Uguzzo as parallel variants of the same process.

E. Rossoni supplies historical documentation: he records a Ser Guccio in Siena around 1300, procurator of the Nine Lords of the Republic, and places its fixing as a surname in Florence during the 15th century. He considers Gucci typical of the Florence area, while De Felice links it more broadly to Tuscany and the region of Emilia-Romagna.

As regards Guccione, both authors identify it as a Sicilian surname documented from the 14th century. Rossoni specifies that it is an augmentative of Guccio transplanted from Tuscany between the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th, and that in Sicily it lost the initial u —which in the Sicilian dialect functions as a definite article—, becoming established as Guccione in the written language. He places it in Canicattì, Palermo, the Ragusa area, Francofonte and Campobello di Mazara, with a presence also in the Cosenza area.