Originally denoted a person from Sinagra on Sicily, possibly derived from Latin sinus "inlet" and ager "field". Derived from the given name Senagora, an form of XENAGORAS.

E. De Felice notes that it is a Sicilian surname formed from the place name Sinagra, a locality of the province of Messina.

E. Rossoni confirms the Sicilian origin and places its greatest concentration in Palermo, with a presence also in Sinagra —Messina area—, in Favignana —Trapani area— and in Porto Empedocle —Agrigento area. Together with the toponymic derivation, Rossoni proposes an alternative hypothesis: the surname could derive from a dialect adaptation of the Greek name Xenagoras, documented in a Greek historian of the 3rd century AD.