The authors agree that the surname comes from the Greek φαντός ("visible"), that is, that which can be seen or perceived.

G. Rohlfs places the surname in Calabria, with presence in the city of Catanzaro and in various municipalities of the province of Reggio Calabria (Caulonia, Siderno), noting also that it coincides with the place name of the contrada Fantò, located near Ciminà. Rohlfs frames the surname within the heritage of Greek-Byzantine origin peculiar to that region, and warns that in Argentina it may appear without an accent (Fanto).

V. Blunda, for his part, works the surname from Sicily and specifies the motivational sense of the Greek word: according to this author, the form designated that which is notable or perceptible, and would have functioned as a nickname applied to an ancestor for his public presence or for some trait associated with visibility. Blunda also notes parallel forms recorded in that same linguistic sphere, such as Fantaci and Fantauzzi.