Frontini is a northern Italian surname spread especially in the North. According to P. Lastrico, its distribution is concentrated in the Lombard provinces of Como, Milan and Varese, with significant nuclei also in Emilia-Romagna and in the Marche.

It belongs to the wide onomastic group of Fronte, together with Frontino, Frontoni, Frontera and Fronteddu (this last typical of Dorgali, in the Sardinian Nuoro area).

The etymology admits three main hypotheses:

• The first derives it from the medieval personal name Fronte, a Christian anthroponym with an augural and devotional value, applied to the newborn so that he could be a bulwark (or front) of the Christian faith.
• The second relates it to hypocoristic forms (affective diminutive forms) of medieval compound names such as Malafronte (from "bad forehead", of a stern appearance) or Grandefronte (from "great forehead", of great bearing).
• The third, valid for northern Italy, connects it with the place name Front (province of Turin, Piedmont) or Frontale (province of Sondrio, Lombardy), or more generally with people coming from localities of the same name.

The plural form Frontini, with a diminutive suffix, indicates originally "the descendants of little Fronte" or the younger members of the Fronte family.