E. Rossoni notes that the surname derives from the medieval Italian personal name Cavalcante. Among the best-known historical bearers are the 13th-century Lombard banker Cavalcante della Scala and, especially, Cavalcante Cavalcanti, a Florentine of the Guelph faction and political adversary of Farinata degli Uberti, mentioned by Dante in the Inferno among the heretics. Rossoni indicates that the surname Cavalcante is documented possibly in southern Italy, while the variant Cavalcanti is concentrated in the Cosenza area.

A. Bongioanni offers a complementary perspective: he notes that Cavalcante began as an Italian given name that later became a surname, a phenomenon not infrequent in Italian onomastics. Bongioanni adds that from the abbreviated affectionate form Cante derive the surnames Cantelli, Canti and Cantoni.