A. Bongioanni and V. Blunda differ on the origin of the surname.

Bongioanni identifies it as a Germanic given name, a variant of Atto, Attone, Azzo and Azzone. He notes that there is a Sant'Adone, bishop of Vienne, of the 9th century, whose feast day is 16 December.

Blunda, on the other hand, for the Sicilian variant derives it from the Greek etymon Adòn ("Adonis"), belonging to the mythological anthroponymic stock of the Hellenic world. He refers to the young lover of Aphrodite, famous for his beauty and tragically killed by a boar according to Greek mythological tradition. He notes that the name kept in Mediterranean culture its symbolic value of youth and masculine beauty, and was incorporated into Sicilian onomastics as one of the many legacies of Magna Graecia.