E. Rossoni notes that D'Autilia is a patronymic or matronymic form referring to an ancestor who bore the name Autilia or Autilio, of Lombard and Norman origin. He documents this surname in Puglia from the year 1270 and records its presence in localities of the Salento area —that is, the southernmost zone of the region of Puglia, in southern Italy— such as Cursi, Martano, Melendugno and Campi Salentina, as well as in the Taranto area, in Palermo (Sicily) and in bordering zones between Abruzzo and Puglia.

V. Blunda agrees on the patronymic origin of the prefix D' and on the Germanic base of the name, but goes deeper into its etymology: he links it to the root auda, which in the Germanic languages designated wealth, property or patrimonial goods. This root appears as the first element in anthroponyms such as Audolfo, Audoaldo or Audoberto, all associated with the Germanic ideal that related the possession of goods with the legal condition of the free man. Blunda places the preservation of the surname especially in Campania and in other zones of southern Italy of Lombard imprint.