The authors agree that this is a surname of Sicilian origin, formed from the place name Tortorici, a locality belonging to the Messina area.

E. Rossoni notes that the name of Tortorici would seem to derive from Turris Orice, in reference to a princess who is said to have founded the city. F. Miranda broadens this detail: according to his contribution, Orice was a princess exiled from Carthage —occupied by the Arabs between 695 and 698— who took refuge in the Nebrodi mountains and founded there the new city.

Regarding the variants of the surname, Rossoni also records the forms Turturici, Turtulici, Torturici and Turtorici. Miranda agrees on the variants Turtulici, Corturici and Turtorici, and adds that the form Turturici is concentrated in the Agrigento and Palermo areas.

Miranda is the author who offers the most detailed geographical distribution within Sicily: the surname is diffused mainly in the Palermo, Agrigento, Trapani, Catania and Messina areas and in the Enna area. E. De Felice characterises it briefly as a Sicilian surname without further geographical development.