E. De Felice and A. Bongioanni fully agree in noting that the surname has as its base the personal name Albano, which continues the Latin nomen Albanus, an ethnonym of Alba, a place name frequent in Antiquity (Alba Longa, Alba Fucens, etc.). Saint Alban is considered the protomartyr of England, who died in 286 (22 June). Both authors note that the surname can also derive, as a medieval and modern ethnonym, from the place name Albano, present in many Italian regions (Albano Laziale, Albano di Lucania, etc.). They also warn that in the surname Banelli there may be overlap with the name Urbano. It is widespread throughout Italy, with maximum frequency in Naples.

Surnames in Italy partially agrees with the previous authors and offers several hypotheses on the origin of the surname. It notes that it may have a geographical origin, indicating belonging to the Albanian people, who settled in the Adriatic coastal areas from Abruzzo to Puglia and from there to Sicily. It also agrees that it could derive from the Roman place name Alba present in various areas of Italy, from the Piedmontese Alba Pompeia (Alba) to the more famous Alba Longa, or from the name Albano, the Italian form of Albanus (meaning "of Alba", from the Latin albus, "white"). A third plausible hypothesis is that it derives from a medieval place name Albano, present in many parts of Italy. The first traces of these surnames date from 1500. It makes separate mention of the surname Albanito, a very rare surname that would seem typical of Torano Castello in the area of Cosenza: probably of Greek-Albanian origin, it appears to arise from an Italianisation of the Greek surname Arvanitis, which literally means "Albanian". Throughout history, Albanian emigration (also called the Albanian diaspora) frequently headed towards Greece and Italy, giving rise, in both countries, to various surnames of Albanian origin. By tradition, the Italo-Albanians are known as arbëreshë, while the Greek-Albanians are known as arvaniti. In this context, it also notes that many arbëreshë surnames actually come from Greece and not from Albania, since they are arvaniti surnames. As related surnames it mentions Albano, Albanese, Albanesi, Albani and Albanis.

V. Blunda offers a different interpretation, noting that it is a Sicilian surname of dialectal origin, belonging to the group of phytonymic surnames. It comes from the dialectal word álvanu, meaning "black poplar". He explains that as a surname it may have originated in a place name applied to someone who lived near a poplar grove, a tree characteristic of the banks of Sicilian watercourses, especially in the Simeto valley and other rivers of the island's interior.