F. Miranda proposes two hypotheses on the origin of this surname: that it is an erroneous transcription of Garofalo, or that it derives from the dialectal term galofaru, meaning "whirlpool, water vortex", especially the one that forms in the Strait of Messina, according to Piccitto.

V. Blunda rules out the first hypothesis and pronounces himself with greater precision on the second: the surname is of Sicilian origin and comes from the dialectal word galòfaru, which designated the pools of still water in the beds of rivers and torrents, places used for fishing and for watering livestock. Blunda notes that the alternation between the forms galòfaru and garòfalo responds to an l/r metathesis documented in dialectal phonetics, and warns that the popular interpretation that associates the surname with the Italian garòfalo ("garden carnation") is a false etymology, since the surname belongs to the dialectal hydrographic lexicon.

The surname is present mainly in Sicily, where it is distributed in several provinces, among them Ragusa, Messina, Syracuse, Catania and the Enna area. Miranda also records its presence in other regions of Italy, such as Lombardy, Lazio, Piedmont, Liguria, Emilia-Romagna, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Tuscany, Calabria, Trentino-Alto Adige and Umbria.