The authors agree that this surname has a toponymic origin and would derive from the Latin cognomen Cambria, the old name of the region of Wales, in the northwest of Great Britain. E. Rossoni documents the use of this name in an old Roman inscription, where the form Aurelia Titulla Cambria appears.

F. Miranda broadens the etymology by noting that the surname could also derive from the old Celtic word combroges, which meant "compatriots" and evoked the period of struggle between Celts and Anglo-Saxons for control of the British island. Miranda also considers that the surname is peculiar to the Messina area, from where it spread to other regions: Sicily in general —with presence in the Catania, Palermo, Trapani, Syracuse and Enna areas—, as well as Lombardy, Campania, Tuscany, Lazio, Piedmont, Calabria, Liguria and Veneto.