The authors agree that this surname derives from the medieval Latin name Pico, Piconis, documented in sources such as the Chronicon Vulturnense of the 12th century and in a deed of donation from Gubbio, in the Perugia area, dated 1251, where a certain Mercatus Rainerii Piconis is mentioned. E. Rossoni notes that the surname is very diffused in Lazio, Campania, Molise and Sicily, while the form Piconi is proper to the Rome area.

F. Miranda adds that the surname could also derive from the Sicilian dialect term picuni, with the meaning of 'pickaxe', as documented by Rohlfs, probably functioning as an occupational nickname of one who used that tool to break hard ground, demolish walls or work rocky materials, a nickname that in time became a surname. Miranda notes that the surname is distributed across Campania and throughout Sicily, with a particularly marked presence in the Palermo, Agrigento, Messina, Caltanissetta, Catania and Enna areas.

V. Blunda agrees on the Sicilian dialect origin from picùni, and specifies that the augmentative designates the larger tool used by stonecutters and miners to detach stone, which reinforces the interpretation of a nickname of clearly occupational origin.