E. De Felice notes that this is a Calabrian surname, extended to Campania, and proposes two possible origins: on the one hand, the place name Straticò, a locality present in the Reggio Calabria area, in the municipalities of Cardeto and Ardore; on the other, the name of office and trade straticò or stratigò, with which in old Sicilian and Calabrian various municipal magistrates were designated.

G. Rohlfs agrees in noting a Greek-Byzantine origin, but provides greater precision: he derives it directly from the Greek stratigòs, meaning "military commander", and links it with the old Sicilian title straticotu, which designated the governor of Messina. Rohlfs documents its presence in Cosenza and in localities of its province —Castrovillari, Firmo, Frascineto and Lungro—, and considers it a sibling form of Stratacò. For this author, the surname reflects the influence of the Byzantine military hierarchy in southern Italy.

P. Durante agrees on the Greek origin and links it to the term strategòs, meaning "general", without adding further geographical or historical information.

In sum, the three authors converge in deriving the surname from the Greek word stratigòs / strategòs, which refers to a military or governmental office. The main divergence lies in that De Felice also contemplates the possibility of a direct toponymic origin, while Rohlfs places the emphasis on the transmission through an administrative title of the Byzantine administration in Calabria and Sicily.