The authors agree that this is a surname of Sicilian and dialectal character, derived from the Sicilian word sportàru. Its nature is occupational, that is, it comes from the trade practised by the first bearer of the surname.

F. Miranda specifies that the term sportaro designated one who made or sold sporte, baskets of various shapes and sizes made mainly of rushes or straw. He further notes that the surname is present in Sicily in the Palermo, Catania and Enna areas —specifically in the comuni of Centuripe and Nissoria—, and that it also appears, to a lesser extent, in Lombardy, Liguria, Calabria, Tuscany, Lazio, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Piedmont.

V. Blunda adds a morphological detail: the suffix -àru is productive in Sicilian for forming trade names from the manufactured object. He interprets the surname as an occupational nickname applied to the artisan who wove baskets of palm or rush, before it became a surname.