The authors agree that this surname derives from the name of the historical region of Navarre, in northern Spain, and that its diffusion in southern Italy was also favoured by the direct influence of the Spanish surnames Navarra and Navarro.

E. De Felice notes that the surname is sporadic in Italy, with a greater frequency in Naples, and that the form Navarria is proper to Sicily. E. Rossoni confirms the Spanish toponymic origin and indicates that its fixing as a surname is documented at Paternò in the 16th century; he records a presence especially in Sicily —above all in the Trapani area—, in Campania, in Lazio and in the Bari area.

F. Miranda specifies that it is a toponymic surname meaning "those of Navarre", referring to the first bearers. He notes that the surname shows areas of greater concentration in Sicily, especially in the western provinces of Palermo, Trapani and Agrigento, with a lesser presence in those of Messina and Catania, and scattered clusters in Campania, Lazio and other regions of northern and central Italy. The variant Navarria is concentrated mainly in Sicily —in the provinces of Catania, Syracuse, Messina, Ragusa and Enna— and appears with small cores in Lombardy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Tuscany, Piedmont and Liguria.