E. Rossoni proposes that the surname derives from the fact that the ancestors came from areas of ravines or gullies —called calanchi, erosion furrows typical of clay terrains such as those of the slopes of the Emilian Apennines—, or from names of specific places, such as the Collina della Calanca, located between the Pistoia and Modena areas, or the Val Calanca, currently in Swiss territory. Rossoni notes a small cluster in the area between Varese and Milan, with a main cluster in Mirandola, Modena, San Felice sul Panaro, Medolla and Soliera, in addition to presence in Bologna, the Viterbo area and Rome. The variant Calanchi appears linked to Bologna and Spilamberto, in the Modena area.

F. De Laurentiis offers a different etymology: he links the surname to the noun calanca in the sense of "small marine inlet on a high and rocky coast; cove". This interpretation, of a geographical-coastal character, contrasts with Rossoni's explanation, centred on erosive formations of the interior and on specific place names.