E. Rossoni notes that Cardone is typical of a strip that covers Lazio, Abruzzo, Campania, Molise, Puglia and the Potenza area, while the variant Cardoni is characteristic of a central strip that includes the Marche, Umbria and Lazio. According to Rossoni, both forms would derive from an abbreviated augmentative variant of the name Ricardo, although he also notes a possible derivation from the Italian term cardo, from the Latin carduus. The first traces of its transformation into a surname are documented in Narni in a deed of 1652.

V. Blunda proposes a different etymology for the case of Sicily: the surname would come from the dialectal word carduni, with the meanings of "rustic, boor, simpleton, fool". Blunda considers that the interpretation that associates the surname with the Italian cardone, understood as "large thistle", is a false etymology. The Sicilian surname would have its origin in a mocking nickname applied to people considered of coarse behaviour or of scant intelligence, a frequent motivation in Sicilian onomastics.