The authors agree that this is a surname of Sicilian origin, derived from the dialect term 'ncatasciàtu. E. Rossoni describes it as denoting someone of a surly, closed or unfriendly character, and notes that the surname would have arisen as a nickname highlighting that trait in the founding ancestor. V. Blunda agrees on the dialect base and on the sense of "closed, withdrawn, uncommunicative character", and adds an expressive image: that of someone who keeps his thoughts as though in a drawer, applied as a nickname to a person who is silent, reserved or averse to social dealings.

As for geographical distribution, Rossoni locates the surname mainly in Modica and Pozzallo, in the Ragusa area, as well as in Rosolini, in the Syracuse area, and in Catania. The same author notes that the variant Incatasciata is practically unique and would be explained by a transcription error for Incatasciato.