E. Rossoni and V. Blunda differ on the origin of the surname.

Rossoni derives it from reduced forms of the name Aribertus, recalling the very famous archbishop of Milan Ariberto d'Antimiano, born towards the end of the 10th century. He notes that the use of this reduced form is documented towards the end of the 12th century.

Rossoni further distinguishes the forms: Riberti has areas in Ferrara and its surroundings, in Umbertide (Perugia area) and in Fano (Ancona area); Riberto has areas in the Rovigo area and the Milan area.

Blunda, on the other hand, for the Sicilian variant derives it from the Germanic compound Ric Bertht, with the meaning of "illustrious for power" or "famous of the domain," formed by ric ("power, domain") and bertht ("bright, famous").

Blunda specifies that the root ric is the same that gave the modern German Reich ("realm, empire"), with the preserved sense of a political entity dominated by the king, and appears as the second element in numerous European anthroponyms such as Federico, Enrico or Teodorico. He notes that the form Riberti with the initial vowel i is characteristic of northern Italian, where the consonant group of the Germanic compound evolved by phonetic adaptation from Ric- to Rib-.