The authors agree that this surname is of Sicilian origin and is etymologically linked to Greek. G. Rohlfs classifies it as a surname of Greek-Byzantine origin and derives it from the Greek κανναβός, meaning "grey"; he notes that in Greece the form Kannavòs survives. E. Rossoni also gathers this etymology from Rohlfs and adds that the surname would derive from the place name Cannavò, located in the Reggio Calabria area.

F. Miranda develops both hypotheses: on the one hand, the Greek-Calabrian kannavos (κανναβος), "grey", interpreted as a nickname referring to the hair colour of the first bearer; on the other, the place name Cannavò, a hamlet of Reggio Calabria situated on the right bank of the Calopinace torrent. On the other hand, V. Blunda proposes a different etymology: he considers it a phytonymic surname derived from the dialectal word cànnavu, "hemp", which would have given rise to the surname from the trade of cultivator or worker of that textile fibre.

E. De Felice describes it as a surname very frequent in the northeast of Sicily, with presence also in southern Calabria. Miranda specifies its distribution in Sicily: Catania, Messina, Palermo, Syracuse, Ragusa and Enna areas, with scattered presences in Lazio, Piedmont, Lombardy, Tuscany, Campania and Friuli-Venezia Giulia.