E. De Felice notes that this surname is proper to central and inland Liguria, and links it to the place name Maragliano, a locality in the province of Pavia.

E. Rossoni considers that the surname shows two independent clusters of origin (ceppi): a main one in the Genoa area and a secondary one in the Agrigento area. Rossoni proposes that it could derive from a place name such as Borgo Maragliano, in the Asti area. He documents a presence of the surname in Liguria from the 15th century, with the broker Pasquale Maragliano as a benefactor of the Abbey of San Siro in Genoa, and also mentions the sculptor Antonio Maria Maragliano (1664–1739), active in Genoa towards the end of the 17th century.