E. Rossoni and V. Blunda differ on the origin of the surname.

Rossoni derives it from the Latin name Altinus or Altinius, documented in the Histories of Livy.

Blunda, on the other hand, for the Sicilian variant derives it from the Germanic personal name Aldini, a diminutive form of the anthroponym Aldo, linked to the root alda ("old, wise, aged"). He notes that the suffix -ini is one of the most productive formatives in the creation of Italian surnames, generally applied to the name of the father or the founder of the lineage. He adds that the fixation of the anthroponym as a surname reflects the period of consolidation of hereditary onomastics between the 11th and 13th centuries.