The authors agree that this surname is a patronymic composed of preste ("priest") and the personal name Filippo, with the meaning of "those belonging to the family of the priest Filippo." E. Rossoni notes that the base term is the medieval preste and places the surname in Sicily, in the Enna, Palermo and Catania areas.

F. Miranda broadens the etymological analysis: he indicates that preste is a southern term adapted from the Old French prestre —which later evolved into prêtre—, to which corresponds the Italian prete. Miranda also records the variant Prestifilippi. As to its distribution, he describes it as a typically Sicilian surname, present in a broad zone of the island covering the provinces of Palermo, Catania, Enna, Messina, Caltanissetta, Trapani and Syracuse.