The authors agree that the surname has a Germanic root, although they differ in the etymological details. E. Rossoni notes that it could derive from the Gothic name Galindus, from an affective form of the medieval name Gano, or from the place name Gandino, in the Bergamo area. He adds that this place name shares its origin with the Alpine word ganda, which designates an accumulation of collapsed stones or rocky debris.

V. Blunda proposes, on the other hand, that the surname derives from the Lombard personal name Gando, linked to the root gand, which in Old Norse appears as gandr and refers to a magic wand or ritual instrument of command with connotations of symbolic power. Blunda also documents the derived form Gandola, with a diminutive or feminine-gender suffix characteristic of the medieval onomastic lexicon of northern Italy.

As for the geographical distribution, Rossoni places the surname as peculiar to northern Italy, with presence in Piedmont —especially in the Asti and Alessandria areas—, in Lombardy —in the Pavia, Milan and Lodi areas, as well as in the Brescia and Mantua areas— and in Emilia-Romagna, between Reggio Emilia and Bologna. Blunda, for his part, also records it in Sicily.