The surname Zoccola is interpreted, according to the main scholars, from an origin linked to nicknames of a derogatory or marginal character. E. De Felice notes that it derives from the regional word zòccola, meaning "sewer rat" and which, in a figurative sense, was also used to refer to a "woman of ill repute". In this context, the surname would have arisen as a byname applied to a person or family, following a frequent practice in the Middle Ages, where nicknames —even negative ones— could become fixed as hereditary surnames.

For his part, E. Rossoni broadens this interpretation by indicating that, besides the origin in nicknames, the surname could have been attributed in some cases to abandoned children. He notes that Zoccola appears in the Civil Registry records of Salerno as a surname assigned to foundlings, which introduces a particular social dimension in its formation. Likewise, he confirms the derivation of the regional term zoccola and also mentions the Sicilian zòcculu ("large rat"), reinforcing the link with the popular linguistic sphere.

As a whole, the surname Zoccola reflects a complex formation, where descriptive or derogatory nicknames converge and, in some cases, administrative practices linked to the assignment of surnames to abandoned children, keeping in its current form a trace of specific social and cultural contexts of southern Italy.