The consulted works concur in tracing this surname to the Arabic murābiṭ, a term designating an ascetic monk, hermit, or holy man. E. De Felice notes that the Arabic word also passed into Sicilian as muràbbitu, carrying the sense of "abstemious." V. Blunda agrees with this reading and adds that, as a nickname, it could have been applied to someone known for his sobriety; Blunda also observes that the variant Marabiti reflects a vowel alternation between o and a in initial position.

F. Miranda records additional etymological hypotheses alongside the Arabic derivation. One is a connection to the French marabout, understood in the sense of "superstitious, hypocritical" according to Traina. Another, proposed by Pensabene, derives the name from the Latin murus and the Greek àbatos, yielding the meaning "insurmountable wall." Miranda also documents the surname's broad diffusion throughout Italy, with concentrations especially notable in Calabria, Sicily, Lombardy, Piedmont, Lazio, Liguria, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, and Veneto.

E. Rossoni provides more precise geographical detail: Morabito is characteristic of the area of the Strait of Messina, between the provinces of Reggio Calabria and Messina, while the variant Murabito is more typical of the area of Catania. Rossoni further notes that Reggio was under Arab rule in the tenth century and the early eleventh, making it plausible that the surname took shape locally during that period. He also points out that the Arabic al-murābiṭūn designated the warriors who Islamized the Maghreb — known in Spanish as the Almoravids — and that the same root underlies the name of the maravedi coin.

The source "Surnames in Italy" adds a related detail on this point: the term left traces around the Mediterranean in the form of the morabetino, a medieval coin, which helps illustrate how widely the Arabic root circulated in the region. It also records a dissenting view attributed to Pensabene, who rejected the Arabic etymology and instead proposed a folk interpretation reading the name as a compound of Moro ("Moor") and abito ("habit"), understood as an honorific title for brave men. This position is contested by Bongioanni and others, who maintain the Arabic origin on the basis of the documented Muslim presence in the area of Reggio Calabria.