G. Rohlfs places this surname in the Greek-Byzantine sphere, with presence throughout Calabria, as well as in the Naples and Sicily areas. He derives it from the Greek kúnduros, which means "short", with reference to the short stature of an ancestor. As a parallel in modern Greece, Rohlfs notes the survival of the forms Kòndaris and Kùnduras, and interprets it as a reflection of the Byzantine presence in southern Italy.

V. Blunda proposes a different etymology: he derives it from the Greek coýntoyros, an expression that designated the "horse with the cut tail", a practice documented in the Byzantine military apparatus. According to Blunda, the surname would have arisen as a nickname applied to the one who bred or cared for that type of animal, or as a nickname referring to some particular trait of an ancestor linked to that tradition.

Both proposals share the Greek-Byzantine origin of the surname, but differ in the concrete etymon: Rohlfs points to an adjective that alludes to stature, while Blunda connects it with a denomination of the equestrian and military world.