F. Miranda notes that this surname is a variant of Torrisi and derives, like the latter, from various place names built on the root Torre ("tower") —such as Torre Archirafi, Torre Normanna or Torregrotta—, referring to the first bearers who lived near a tower or came from those localities. For his part, V. Blunda approaches the origin from the Sicilian dialectal plane: the word turrìsi means "dweller of a tower", and the demonymic suffix designates one who lives near or inside a construction of that kind; in his reading, the surname could also have arisen from a microtoponym applied to someone residing in an emblematic building of the neighbourhood.

Both explanations are compatible: Miranda privileges the direct toponymic origin, while Blunda stresses the mediation of the Sicilian dialect as a bridge between the noun torre and the surname form. The surname is of marked Sicilian roots, with a notable presence in the Catania, Messina and Palermo areas, besides the municipalities of the Enna area. It is also recorded in other regions of Italy, among them Apulia, Lombardy, Lazio, Piedmont and Tuscany.