The authors agree that the surname derives from the place name Raccuia, a locality of the province of Messina, in Sicily.

F. Miranda goes deeper into the origin of the place name, which in historical documents appears under the old forms Raccudia and Raccuglia, and links it to the Arabic etymon rahl kudyah, with the sense of "hill estate." The first written mention of the name Raccuia —referring to the hamlet formed around the monastery of San Nicolò del Fico, of the order of Saint Basil— dates from a document of 1271. The surname would correspond to a first bearer native of that locality.

Miranda also notes that the surname, together with its variant Raccuglia, spread in the Palermo area towards the 17th century, linked to the founding of the town of Bagheria under the name of "Raccuia Nuova" by the count of Raccuia.

E. Rossoni confirms that Raccuia is proper to the homonymous locality and to the Messina area, and records the variant Raccuja, also Sicilian, as very infrequent.