The authors agree that this surname is typically Sicilian and derives from the place name of the city of Bivona, in the Agrigento area, the probable place of origin of the founding ancestor of the lineage. Both note two possible etymologies for that place name: one that links it to the Greek Hipponium and another that derives it from the Latin bis-bona ("twice good").

F. Miranda adds historical data on the evolution of the place name: the name Bivona is documented for the first time in 1171, and the most frequent form until the beginning of the 16th century was Bibona; the variant Bisbona is attested in 1363 and is considered a learned form derived from the Latin bis-bona. E. Rossoni, for his part, places the distribution of the surname in the Catania, Palermo, Agrigento, Trapani, Caltanissetta and Messina areas.

Miranda also specifies that the surname has spread outside Sicily, with presence documented in Lombardy, Tuscany, Piedmont, Lazio, Veneto, Liguria, the Marche, Campania, Emilia-Romagna, Puglia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Sardinia.