The authors agree that the surname refers to the historic Genoese noble family, considered one of the most important in Italian history. E. Rossoni notes that it can derive from the patronymic d'Oria, that is, "son of Oria", a medieval name coming from the Latin Aurea, or from place names such as Oria, in the province of Brindisi, indicating geographical provenance. One of the sources also proposes that the Genoese surname derives from Doria, a frazione of the municipality of Struppa, in the Genoa area.

P. Regati indicates that the Doria family is native to Genoa and descends, apparently, from an Arduino, viscount of Narbonne, who settled there around the year one thousand. Rossoni agrees on that origin and specifies that the probable founder of the lineage was Ansaldo D'Oria, of the counts of Narbonne, who at the beginning of the 12th century acted as ambassador to the king of Sicily and Grand Admiral of the Genoese fleet in the conquests of Almería and Toulouse.

The surname is found in a scattered way throughout Italy, with presence especially in the Venice area, in the Turin area and in the Salentine zone —that is, the southernmost zone of the region of Puglia, in the south of Italy—.