E. Rossoni notes that the surname has two main areas of concentration: that of Messina and that of Foggia. He proposes that it could derive from nicknames linked to place names such as Borgo Macchia (in the Matera area), Macchia (in the Foggia area), San Cosimo alla Macchia (in the Brindisi area) or Macchia di Giarre (in the Catania area). He does not, however, rule out a derivation by aphaeresis from Greek names such as Kallimachos, Lysimachos and the like.

V. Blunda approaches the surname from a Sicilian and dialect perspective. He derives it from the word macchia, which designates the dense scrub or thick brushwood characteristic of uncultivated Mediterranean slopes. As a surname, it would have arisen as a microtoponym applied to someone who lived beside a stretch of scrubland or made a living from it.