E. Rossoni notes that this surname derives from a nickname related to the physical characteristic of having short legs. As early evidence, he mentions a certain Gambinus de Thetis documented in Palermo in the 14th century, and the notary Astexanus Gambinus, who drew up deeds in the Asti area in 1305. From the geographical point of view, Rossoni indicates that Gambina is quite rare and peculiar to the Trapani area, while the variant Gambini extends through a strip that covers Emilia, Tuscany, the Marche, Umbria and Lazio. Gambino, on the other hand, seems characteristic of Sicily, although with presence also in the Genoa area, in Piedmont, in Campania and in the north of Puglia.

V. Blunda offers a different interpretation for the Sicilian variant: he holds that the surname comes from the dialectal word gammìna, a zoonymic term that designates the Philomachus pugnax, a migratory bird of long legs peculiar to the marshes and wetlands of Sicily, known in Spanish as the ruff.