The authors agree that this surname derives from an augmentative of a nickname linked to the place names Tripoli —a city that may refer to the one in Libya, the one in Syria or the one in Lebanon. This nickname would have alluded both to the robust physical constitution of the first bearer and to his provenance from one of those cities.

E. Rossoni places the presence of the surname mainly in the Messina and Catania area. For his part, F. Miranda broadens this geographical description: he notes that the surname is infrequent and concentrated above all in Sicily, with a presence in the Catania area —in localities such as Mascalucia, Ramacca, Misterbianco, Castiglione di Sicilia, Acireale and Catania—, in the Messina area —Motta Camastra, Messina and Taormina—, in the Palermo area and in the Enna area, specifically in Regalbuto. Miranda adds that there are specific and occasional zones outside Sicily, in the regions of Lazio, Marche, Liguria and Lombardy.