F. Miranda notes that this surname is infrequent and is distributed across some 45 scattered localities, with a main nucleus in Sicily —especially in the Catania, Agrigento, Palermo and Enna areas— and a secondary presence in Piedmont, Lombardy, Lazio, Campania, Tuscany and Liguria. According to Miranda, the surname would derive from bynames of relatively recent formation, linked to those who produced or sold pecorino cheese, or raised sheep for the production of milk and cheese; it would be the equivalent of "those of the pecorino cheese." Miranda further adds, citing Ciccia, that it could be a byname derived from pecora ("sheep"), with the affectionate sense of "small and dear as a lamb."

G. P. Holmes proposes, on the other hand, a Greek origin and interprets it as a diminutive of "sheep," originally attributed to someone linked to that activity. This hypothesis is not supported by the other authors and lacks a precise etymological development, so it should be taken with reservations.