The authors agree that this surname derives from the trade connected with sericulture: the person in charge of working the silk-spinning instrument known in archaic Sicilian as manganeddu or mànganu. E. Rossoni specifies that the surname reproduces the Greek Managanáris and the Sicilian manganaru, with the sense of "he who draws the silk from the cocoons with the mànganu". V. Blunda agrees on the dialect etymon manganàru with the meaning "silk worker, he who extracts the silk from the cocoon", and adds that the trade is linked to Arab-Norman sericulture, central to the medieval Sicilian economy.

Rossoni documents the fixing as a surname as early as the beginning of the 14th century: a certain Filippo Manganaro was appointed Master Secretary and Master Procurator of all Sicily on 28 March 1310, and served as Judge of the Magna Regia Curia of Palermo between 1313 and 1319. As for its distribution, Rossoni notes a main presence in Sicily —especially in the Caltanissetta, Catania, Syracuse and Messina areas—, with an extension towards the neighbouring Reggio Calabria area, and additional cores in the Rome, Caserta, Naples and Lecce areas.