E. De Stefani considers that this surname derives from the Germanic personal name Odalric or Vuolric, equivalent to the names Odorico or Ulrico. The phonetic evolution would have passed through the forms Vuodalricus and Vuolricus, up to the Friulian variant Vuolrì and, by metathesis —a frequent phenomenon in the presence of r and l—, to Vuorlì, with subsequent diphthongization into Vuerlì. The Germanic bases of the name would be othal ("homeland, patrimony") and rich ("powerful, rich"). De Stefani documents the surname in Trelli and Salino, in the municipality of Paularo, in the Carnia —a mountainous zone of northern Friuli, in the province of Udine—, with records from the beginning of the 16th century.

E. Rossoni agrees in placing the surname in the upper Udine, especially in Paularo, but proposes alternative etymologies. He suggests that it could derive from a nickname linked to the Lombard word worila ("sluice, closure"), or else connect with the medieval Germanic words wurgil or wergila, with the sense of "narrowing, constriction or curve", perhaps alluding to a geographical characteristic of the founder's place of origin. Rossoni also contemplates the possibility that it is a dialectal hypocoristic form of the medieval Germanic name Wuelrich, which would bring it close to De Stefani's hypothesis.