F. Miranda notes that it is an infrequent surname, present in Sicily —where it appears in the provinces of Messina, Catania, Syracuse, Agrigento and Enna— and, with specific pockets of presence, also in Lombardy, Piedmont, Tuscany, Liguria, Veneto, Umbria, Trentino-Alto Adige, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio and Campania.

As to the origin, Miranda proposes that the surname derives with high probability from a byname linked to the Sicilian dialect word rrappazzu, which designates the grape stalk or the bunch (rrappu) itself, according to the lexicographer Piccitto. Miranda further adds a second hypothesis: it could be an augmentative of rappa ("turnip"), a term of French origin.

G. P. Holmes agrees in noting the Sicilian root, although he specifies it more narrowly: he interprets the surname as a pejorative of the term rappu, with the meaning of "bunch of grapes."