E. Rossoni notes that this surname is typically Sicilian, with a presence in Scicli and in the province of Ragusa, in Castel di Lucio and Mistretta in the province of Messina, and also in Syracuse and Catania. According to Rossoni, it would derive from a nickname based on the Sicilian and Calabrian dialect word lùtru, with the meaning of "mud" or "mire", probably applied to ancestors whose trade was connected with that element. He also records the form Lutro, practically unique, in the Cosenza area, in Calabria.

V. Blunda, by contrast, proposes a different etymology: the surname would come from the dialect word lùtra, meaning "otter", the aquatic mustelid that inhabited the watercourses of the Sicilian interior. On this reading, the surname would have arisen as a zoomorphic nickname applied to someone skilled at swimming or of agile movements near the water.

Both authors agree on the Sicilian origin and on the dialect character of the surname, although they differ on the root proposed: lùtru ("mud") according to Rossoni, and lùtra ("otter") according to Blunda.