The authors agree that this surname derives from nicknames related to the trade of shepherd or sheep breeder, or else to those who slaughtered and sold sheep and goats. It could also allude to traits of the bearer’s character: faint-hearted people or those submissive to others.

E. De Felice notes that the surname is formed from pècora and pecoraro or pecoràio, with northern variants such as pègora, pegoraro and pegorèr. He indicates that Pecora predominates in southern Italy, while Pecori and Pecorini are more frequent in Tuscany.

E. Rossoni supplies historical documentation: the nickname appears in the chronicle of Dino Compagni in 1289, with a mention of a certain Dino di Giovanni called Pecora, and in documents of the archive of Santa Maria in Fiore of Florence of 1390, where a Guidaccio Iacobi Dini del Pecora figures.

F. Miranda stresses that the surname is pan-Italian and shows variants such as Pecori, Peguri, Pecorella, Pecorelli, Pecorino, Pecoraro and Pecorini. It predominates in Sicily, Campania, Calabria and Basilicata, with a presence also in Lombardy, Lazio, Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany and Veneto.