F. Miranda notes that Tasca, together with its variants Taschetta and Tascone, derives from the Latin name of barbarian origin Tasco-Tasconis, or from its Latinized forms Tascus or Tascius. As a historical detail, Miranda recalls that Pliny the Younger, in a letter to Tacitus, mentions that during the eruption of Vesuvius of the year 79 AD, his father received a plea for help from Rectina, wife of a certain Tascius, who lived on the slopes of the volcano.

For its part, the base of the surname is considered to be the Lombard term tasco, a hypocoristic or nickname related to a word of Germanic origin introduced in Italy by the Lombards, with a presence documented in the Isola Bergamasca.

F. De Laurentiis develops the appellative sense of the term: the nickname tasca ("pocket") could allude to someone "with full or empty pockets", or who "always has their hands in their own or others' pockets"; it could also refer to someone so small physically that they "fit in a pocket", or else to a tailor.

As for its geographical distribution, Miranda indicates that the surname is diffused in something more than 420 Italian communes, with a presence concentrated in Lombardy and Veneto, a moderate presence in Sicily and smaller nuclei in other regions such as Piedmont, Lazio, Emilia-Romagna, Apulia, Liguria and Friuli-Venezia Giulia. In Sicily it appears in several provinces: in the Catania area —with thirteen communes, among them Caltagirone, Ramacca and Catania—, in the Ragusa area —with six communes, such as Scicli, Ragusa and Comiso—, in the Caltanissetta area —with Gela, Delia and Caltanissetta—, in the Messina area —with Tusa and Mistretta—, in the Palermo area —with Montemaggiore Belsito, Sclafani Bagni and Castelbuono— and in the Enna area, with Catenanuova.