The authors agree that this surname derives from a nickname based on the form parlato, the result of a metathesis (transposition of sounds) with a shift from e to a of the old term prelato, a title of rank given to senior members of the secular and regular clergy, such as cardinals, bishops, abbots and superiors or vicars of religious orders.

E. De Felice notes that this metathetic form was common both in old usage and in southern speech, and places the surname mainly in southern Italy, with a presence in Naples and Sicily.

F. Miranda specifies that, although the surname is found in almost all Italian regions —with specific areas in Veneto, in the Vicenza area, and in Lazio, in Rome—, its greatest concentration is in Campania, especially in the Naples and Salerno area. In Sicily it is documented above all in the areas of Catania, Agrigento, Palermo, in the Enna area and in the areas of Messina and Trapani.