The authors agree that this is a decidedly Sicilian surname, with its presence concentrated mainly in the Catania area —in localities such as Giarre, Aci Catena, Acireale, Santa Venerina, Riposto, Mascali, Carlentini and Augusta— as well as in Messina and the Syracuse area. F. Miranda adds a presence in the Enna area —in Villarosa, Centuripe and Regalbuto— and in Agrigento, and notes that small specific areas with this surname are scattered across almost all Italian regions, including Lazio, Piedmont, Lombardy, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna.

As for the origin, the authors agree on the main hypothesis: the surname would derive from a contracted form of the superlative sovrabbello, meaning "most beautiful", a name given by parents to a long-awaited child. E. Rossoni specifies that it would be an archaic dialectal superlative form. Miranda develops the process of the surname's formation: the term would first have functioned as a nickname of the first bearer and later become a surname.

Miranda also proposes a second hypothesis, independent of the previous one: the surname could derive from a nickname formed on the diminutive of the Latin term sorbo, the name of a plant of the rose family, well known in Sicily.