E. Rossoni notes that the surname Sperti derives, directly or through dialectal variations, from apocopated forms of the medieval Lombard name Ansperto, documented in a deed of sale of the year 1040 in Calcinate, in the Bergamo area. The surname presents independent stems of origin (ceppi): one located in the Belluno area, with a presence in the Treviso and Venice areas, and in Trieste; and another in the Apulia region, in the Bari, Taranto and Lecce areas.

F. De Laurentiis proposes a different etymology: the base would be nicknames derived from sperto, an archaic and poetic variant of the Italian esperto ("expert"), applied to people with much experience of life or in a specific field. This interpretation is independent of the previous one and does not imply a medieval anthroponymic origin.

The related forms include Sperto, typical of the Brindisi area; Spirti, an altered form of scarce presence; and Spirto, with an area in the Lecce area. Rossoni groups all these variants within the same etymological field centred on Ansperto, while De Laurentiis confines his proposal to the semantic value of the term sperto as a descriptive nickname.