The authors differ both on the geographical origin and on the etymology of this surname. B. Zuanella documents it in Friuli from the 17th century, with records of 1615, 1620 and 1627 in localities of the Chiarò valley and in the baptismal registers of San Pietro al Natisone. Zuanella notes that the surname was found in the comune of Torreano —where the hamlet of Laurini exists, known among the Slovenes as Brajda— and that from there it reached the Natisone valley, where it died out. He derives it from the hagiotoponym Laurentius, by way of the aphaeretic form Laurè, to which the diminutive suffix -in was added. From that same base, but with the Slavic patronymic suffix -ič, arose the Slovene surname Lavrétič, proper to the comune of Stregna.

E. Rossoni, by contrast, considers it a very rare surname, characteristic of the Potenza area, and proposes that it would derive from the place name Laurino, a locality in the province of Salerno. Both hypotheses are compatible with independent origins in different regions of Italy.