The authors agree that the surname is linked to the cultivation or production of oats.

E. Rossoni derives it from the French surname Allavène, originating in Picardy, which probably designated an oat producer.

B. Durante notes that it is singular that the registered property owners resided almost entirely in one of the rural villages par excellence, namely Vallebona. This, also studying the land registry, suggests that they were farmers, owners or labour providers somehow dedicated to or specialised in the cultivation and harvesting of oats, to the point of changing the etymon —first as a nickname and then as a true surname—.