The authors agree that this surname derives from the place name rocca, a term that designated a fortified construction erected preferably in an elevated or steep place for the surveillance of a territory. The surname is diffused throughout Italy, including the island regions, with a greater frequency in Liguria.

F. Miranda specifies that the name could have originated as a nickname referring to the first bearers who lived in a fortress or in its immediate vicinity, and notes that there are numerous Italian place names with this term: Rocca di Neto, Rocca Imperiale, Rocca di Cave, Rocca de' Giorgi, among others. Many Italian towns bear rocca at the front of their name for having been built around one of these structures.

Miranda also indicates that the surname presents areas of concentration in Calabria —especially in the Catanzaro, Crotone and Cosenza areas—, Lombardy —in the Milan, Lecco, Bergamo and Monza areas—, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna and Liguria. In Sicily it appears distributed in the Palermo, Catania, Trapani, Syracuse, Ragusa and Enna areas.

E. De Felice adds that the variant La Rocca is proper to southern Italy. Among the derived forms and documented variants are La Rocca, Rocchesani, Rocchegiani, Rocchesi and Rocchigiani.