The authors agree that this surname derives from Meo, a shortened hypocoristic form of the name Bartolomeo, already frequent in the Middle Ages. E. Rossoni adds that, in some cases, the origin could also go back to names such as Romeo.

Rossoni notes that the surname is distributed mainly in the province of Cagliari, in Sardinia, and along a strip covering the province of Bologna, northern Tuscany, the Marche and Lazio. The variants Meini and Meoni are typically Tuscan, while Meo appears irregularly in central and southern Italy. F. De Laurentiis adds that the surname is found throughout Italy.