G. Rohlfs places this surname in the Greek-Byzantine tradition, considering it a sister form of Tripodi. He documents it in the provinces of Catanzaro, Cosenza and Reggio Calabria, and also notes its presence in Campania, Basilicata and Sicily. He derives it from the Calabrian dialectal term tripodi, meaning "tripod", and observes that in Greece it survives as a surname under the form Tripodis.

V. Blunda analyses it from the Sicilian dialectal perspective and derives it from the word trippòru, which designates the tripod or three-legged support used to hold cauldrons over the fire in traditional cooking. According to Blunda, the surname could have originated as an occupational nickname applied to the blacksmith or the tinsmith.

Both authors agree on the base meaning —the three-legged object— although they differ on the dialectal etymon of reference: Rohlfs refers to the Calabrian term tripodi and to the Greek-Byzantine tradition, while Blunda works with the Sicilian form trippòru and proposes a professional-type motivation to explain its transformation into a surname.