The authors agree that this surname is of Sicilian origin and propose three etymological hypotheses of Greek root. The first derives it from the Greek given name Licarius; the second has it arise by aphaeresis from the archaic Greek word alykàres, which designated the salt-pan worker or the salt seller, a trade the founding ancestor would have practised; the third links it to the Greek term lycos ("wolf"), a possible nickname for an ancestor devoted to wolf hunting.

E. Rossoni notes that the greatest concentration of the surname occurs in Marsala, with a good presence also in Petrosino and Mazara del Vallo, in the Trapani area, and in the Palermo area. Rossoni further stresses that the Byzantine admiral named Licarius conquered the Cyclades in 1269 and served as Triarch of Chalcis between 1279 and 1296, which lends historical support to the first hypothesis.

F. Miranda broadens the geographical distribution and indicates that the surname appears in a large part of the Italian regions, with a significant presence not only in Sicily but also in Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Lazio, Calabria, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Puglia. Within Sicily, Miranda documents specific areas around Palermo, Catania, Messina, Trapani and the Enna area.