E. Rossoni documents for this surname multiple independent clusters of origin (ceppi), located in different zones of Italy: one in Rome and another in Posta, in the Rieti area, both in Lazio; one in Naples; one in Maiori, in the Salerno area; and one in Sicily.

V. Blunda proposes for the surname a Germanic root, derived from the personal name Gunfuloni, formed by gund (combat, battle) and fano (cloth, standard). This base gave rise to the Italian gonfalone, a term that designated the ensign used in the medieval communal republics to identify guilds, parishes and urban neighbourhoods. The gonfaloniere of Justice was, in communal Florence, the highest executive authority of the republican government, an office of great prestige that was maintained until the consolidation of the Medici principate in the 16th century. Blunda places the surname in Sicily.