The authors agree that this surname derives from the Germanic compound Ric-Hari, formed by ric ("power," "domain") and hari ("army," "host"). F. Miranda notes that this compound arrived through the French Richer or Richier, with the sense of "strong in battle." V. Blunda, on the other hand, interprets it directly as "host of power" or "army of the domain," and adds that in the ancient Germanic military organization the royal army was conceived as the visible expression of the authority of the sovereign over the free men of the kingdom. Blunda further adds that the consonant doubling -cc- is characteristic of medieval Italian phonetics to indicate affective or intensive forms of the original anthroponym.

From the geographic point of view, Miranda indicates that the surname is present in areas of Sicily —in particular in the Catania, Palermo, Syracuse and Enna areas— and in Tuscany, with presences of lesser weight in Lazio, Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna and Liguria.