E. De Felice notes that this surname was formed from the Modern Greek trade term zukalâs or tsukalâs, which designated the "maker and vendor of pots and terracotta crockery". This term derives, through the trade suffix -âs, from zukáli or tsukáli, meaning "vessel, pitcher". De Felice documents its use already in 1203, in a text in the Greek language where it appears as a second name or surname: Pelegrínos Tzokalâs. Geographically, he places it in the Salento area —that is, the southernmost zone of the Apulia region, in southern Italy—, in Calabria and in eastern Sicily, with a high frequency of the variant Zoccali in the Reggio Calabria area.

G. Rohlfs agrees on the Greek-Byzantine origin and on the same etymological base, citing the Greek form τσουκαλᾶς with the meaning of "potter, maker of clay pots". Rohlfs specifies that in Greece the surname survives as Tsukalàs, which reinforces the continuity of the root. As for the geographical distribution, he locates it in Cosenza and Reggio Calabria, as well as in various localities of the province of Reggio Calabria, among them Bova, Cinquefrondi and the San Lorenzo area.

E. Rossoni confirms the Greek origin linked to the trade of pot-maker, without adding new etymological elements, and places the surname in the same zones noted by the other authors: the Reggio Calabria area, eastern Sicily and the Salento area. As a historical reference, he mentions the sculptor Mariano Zuccalà, active at the end of the 19th century and a native of Militello, in the Catania area.

The proposal of P. Durante, which relates the surname to the Greek zygón ("yoke"), departs significantly from the etymology upheld by the other authors and does not have the documentary support nor the developed argumentation presented by De Felice, Rohlfs and Rossoni, so it must be taken with reservations.