E. De Felice notes that this surname derives from an original nickname formed from the Calabrian Griko pelecanò or pelicanò, which means "woodpecker," a term in turn from the Modern Greek pelekános —in Ancient Greek pelekás— with the same meaning. The variant Pellicano, proper to the Reggio Calabria area, reflects the adaptation of the Griko term to the normal Italian stress.

G. Rohlfs agrees on the Greek-Byzantine origin of the surname and on its derivation from the Greek πελεκᾶς, but specifies that the dialectal form comes specifically from the Grecanic speech of the Bova area —a locality of the province of Reggio Calabria known for preserving the Greek dialect of Calabria—, where pelicanò designates the "green woodpecker." Rohlfs documents its presence in the cities of Cosenza, Catanzaro and Reggio Calabria, as well as in localities of their respective provinces.