E. Rossoni notes that this surname is proper to Bronte and to Catania, with a presence also in the Centuripe area, in the province of Enna. He proposes as the most likely etymology the popular Latin word longhitanus or longitanus, which means "distant" or "he who comes from far away", used to designate a foreigner in the place. He considers it possible, though less likely, that the term indicates an inhabitant of Longi, a locality near Tortorici, in the Messina area, thus pointing to the geographical origin of the ancestor.

F. Miranda agrees with the Latin etymology and with the hypothesis of the place name Longi, which he presents as a reading upheld by some historians: the surname would designate "the longhitani", that is, the natives of that locality. Miranda broadens the geographical distribution of the surname within Sicily, mentioning the Messina area —with localities such as Giardini Naxos, Graniti and Sant'Agata Militello—, the Enna area —with Troina, Catenanuova and Centuripe— and also those of Syracuse, Ragusa and Caltanissetta. He adds that outside Sicily the surname is scattered across Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Lazio, Emilia-Romagna and Campania.

G. P. Holmes confines himself to noting that the surname comes from Longi, a locality in the Messina area, and stresses that it is the most frequent in Bronte.