The authors agree that the surname derives from a nickname based on the archaic Venetan term galta, although they differ in its precise meaning. E. Rossoni interprets it as "cheek" or "jaw", and suggests that the nickname alluded to someone with reddened cheeks, possibly from an intense blood circulation or from excessive consumption of wine. Rossoni also mentions, as a possible though improbable hypothesis, a relation with the place name Galta, a frazione of the municipality of Vigonovo, in the Venice area.

F. De Laurentiis translates galta as "cheek" in old Venetan and proposes that the nickname described the characteristic of having a red cheek, a trait that he associates with the one who drinks in excess, the one who is cold or the one who has a particularly ruddy complexion. Both interpretations point, in short, to the same physical trait visible on the face of the original bearer of the nickname.

Rossoni notes that the surname is peculiar to the Padua area, with specific presence in localities such as Ponte San Nicolò and Maserà di Padova.