E. De Felice notes that this is a surname frequent in Genoa and in the western Genoese area, formed from the place name Cambiàso, a locality of the province of Genoa whose local pronunciation is kangàžu. De Felice highlights that Giovanni and his son Luca Cambiaso were two of the most important painters of the region of Liguria during the 16th century.

E. Rossoni proposes a different origin and presents several hypotheses. The first links it to an Italianisation of the French surname Cambiez or of the medieval French term cambias, meaning "brewer". The second derives it from a nickname based on the Celtic word cambios, meaning "hunchbacked", possibly in allusion to a physical trait of the founder of the lineage. Rossoni places the clusters of the surname mainly in the region of Liguria, with greater concentration in Genoa and nearby localities such as Serra Riccò, Sant'Olcese and Campomorone.