Originally denoted someone from Sciacca, Sicily, Italy, which is of uncertain origin.

The authors agree that this surname is typical of Sicily and derives from the place name Sciacca, a city of the province of Agrigento. E. De Felice notes that the surname was formed from that place name and from its demonym sciacchitano.

E. Rossoni warns that, although the Arabic shaack ("baths") is presumed at the origin of the name of the city, it is improbable that the surname derives directly from that word. F. Miranda qualifies this position: he considers that the surname designates the place of provenance of the first bearer and that the derivation from the Arabic shaack is a plausible hypothesis for the name of the city, although not necessarily for the surname itself. Miranda also notes that the surname is widely diffused in Sicily, with a presence in the Agrigento, Catania, Messina, Palermo, Syracuse, Trapani and Enna areas, and that families with this surname are also found in Lombardy, Lazio, Piedmont, Liguria, Tuscany, Campania and Veneto.

G. P. Holmes proposes a different reading: he relates the surname to the Sicilian sciaccare ("to divide, to cleave"), a verb of Arabic origin (shaqqah), with the meaning of "cleft" or "crack," although without ruling out the link with the place name.