The authors agree that this surname is of Sicilian origin and derives from the place name Tripi, a locality in the province of Messina.

F. Miranda offers the most detailed analysis of the origin of the place name. According to the historian Maurolico, Tripi "was once called Tripium or Steropium, after one of Vulcan's blacksmiths named Sterope". Another hypothesis links it to the Greek trype, meaning "hole, cavity, lair". In Sicilian dialect, tripu designates a transversal row of trees, but also a lair, according to Piccitto's Sicilian Vocabulary.

The surname is present in Sicily in zones of all its provinces, with a greater concentration in the Palermo, Catania, Messina, Syracuse and Enna areas. Miranda also notes a presence in other regions: Lombardy, Tuscany, Piedmont, Liguria, Lazio, Emilia-Romagna and Trentino-Alto Adige.

E. De Felice characterises it briefly as a Sicilian surname formed from the place name Tripi. E. Rossoni agrees and specifies that the reference locality belongs to the Messina area.