The authors agree that this surname is typically Sicilian and derives from the place name Licata, a locality in the province of Agrigento, in Sicily.

F. Miranda notes that the place name has taken various forms over time: Alukatos, Limpiadum, Limpiados, Lecatam, Cathal, Katta, Licatam, Leocata and Alicata, according to the different linguistic traditions that documented it. As for its etymology, Miranda points to two possible Greek roots: the term leukàs, with the meaning "wormwood", or the term Alykas, which would mean "brine, salty", in reference to its closeness to the river Salso.

E. De Felice adds that the variant Alicata was formed by agglutination of the final vowel of the articles or prepositions La or Da, a process by which La Licata or Da Licata gave rise to L'Alicata or D'Alicata and finally to Alicata.

Miranda further indicates that the surname is present in the Agrigento, Caltanissetta, Palermo, Trapani and Catania areas and in that of Enna, with a more scattered presence also in Lombardy, Piedmont, Lazio, Liguria, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna.