According to E. Rossoni, the surname Zaramella could derive from the demonym of Zara —the Italian name of the Dalmatian city of Zadar— in a dialectal form, which links it with the group of surnames of toponymic origin related to that zone of the Adriatic. Alternatively, he proposes a derivation from nicknames linked to the term caramella, alluding to the sweetness of character of the founding ancestor. This use is documented already in the Renaissance period, the name appearing in the Baldus of Teofilo Folengo (1491–1544), which confirms its antiquity.

For his part, F. De Laurentiis notes that the surname is prevalent in the north-east of Italy and that it is formed from the name Zara and its corresponding demonym, thus reinforcing its possible geographical origin linked to Dalmatia. Nonetheless, he agrees that it may also be a derivative of the nickname Caramella, applied to persons of a particularly sweet or kind character, or even, in some cases, to those who used a monocle. In this sense, Zaramella can be interpreted both within the group of surnames related to Zara and within those arisen from descriptive nicknames.