The surname Piccirillo is a typically southern surname, with a marked epicenter in Campania, especially in the Neapolitan area, although it shows historical ramifications in Caserta, Salerno and Benevento, as well as in Rome and some areas of Apulia.

From the etymological point of view, Piccirillo derives from the medieval personal name and byname Piccirillo, formed from the Neapolitan and, in general, southern dialect word piccerille / piccirillo, with the meaning of 'little one, small child'. It is an affectionate and descriptive appellative, applied originally to people of short stature, of slight build or simply to children, and which later became fixed as a given name and, later still, as a hereditary surname.

This interpretation is shared by E. De Felice, who includes Piccirillo within the broad group of surnames derived from bynames and affectionate names linked to the idea of 'smallness', alongside Piccino, Piccolo and their numerous regional variants.

According to E. Rossoni, the surname Piccirillo must be understood as the cognominalization of personal names or bynames of the founding ancestors, that is, as the hereditary fixing of a nickname or affectionate name attributed to the founding ancestor of the line, the head of the family. Rossoni stresses that all the variants of the group share the same literal meaning of 'little one, small', generally with an affectionate rather than pejorative nuance.

From the linguistic point of view, the Piccirillo group is inserted into a very extensive onomastic family, proper to southern Italy, which includes forms such as Piccirilli, Picciariello, Piccirella and others, all related to the same semantic base. In some specific cases it cannot be excluded that the byname also alluded to physical or behavioural traits, but the affectionate value remains the predominant one.

Related surnames

• Piccirilli: diffused mainly in Lazio and Abruzzo, with nuclei in the provinces of Rome, Frosinone and Chieti. It is a plural or patronymic variant of Piccirillo, which indicates descent or belonging to a family group.
• Piccerillo: a phonetic form close to Piccirillo, documented in the peninsular south, especially in areas of Campania. It shares an identical origin and meaning, with a graphic adaptation originating in the dialect.
• Peccerillo / Peccerilli: southern graphic variants, proper to the Naples area and neighbouring zones.
• Piccirella: a feminine or diminutive variant, very rare, with a presence in Campania and some records in Apulia. It derives from the same affectionate appellative, with the suffix -ella, frequent in surnames of the south.
• Piccerella / Peccerella / Peccerèlla: infrequent forms, localized in southern Italy, arisen as phonetic or diminutive adaptations of the same base name Piccirillo.
• La Piccirella: a compound form with the article, typical of southern onomastics. It indicates an origin from a family nickname ('la Piccirella'), later fixed as a surname.
• Picciariello: a Campanian variant, especially from Avellino and areas of Salerno and Apulia. It is considered a regional variant of Piccirillo, always with the meaning of 'little one', generally in an affectionate sense.
• Picciriello: an extremely rare form, with a probable origin in Apulia (the Foggia area), although today it appears displaced towards northern Italy by internal migrations. It keeps the same root and semantic value.
• Piccirelli / Picciarielli: patronymic or pluralizing variants, arisen to indicate descent or a family branch. They are documented in a scattered way in the centre-south and, to a lesser extent, in the north through internal migration.