The authors agree that the surname is peculiar to the Campidano and is related to the Campidanese Sardinian term argiòla, derived from the Latin areola, a diminutive of area ("threshing floor").

E. De Felice specifies that it is specific to the Campidano and very frequent in Cagliari. He derives it from the place name Argiòla, the name of localities and rural settlements, which has as its base the rustic Campidanese Sardinian argiòla (plural argiòlas), meaning "threshing floor".

E. Rossoni suggests, on the other hand, that it derives from a dialectal nickname related to having been born in July, since in Campidanese —a variety of southern Sardinian— the month of July is called mesi de argiolas. He confirms that s'argiola or arjola means "threshing floor" (the space where grain was threshed), and that the month of July receives this name for being the month of threshing.