The authors differ in the origin of the surname. E. Rossoni derives it from affective forms of a nickname linked to the archaic Venetan term garbelo —a kind of basin used by the goldsmith to collect the filings of precious metals—, which suggests that the founder of the lineage worked with a goldsmith or was himself a goldsmith. Rossoni notes that the surname presents independent clusters of origin (ceppi): one located between the Rovigo and Ferrara areas, and another between the Sondrio and Brescia areas.

F. De Laurentiis, on the other hand, proposes a derivation from the surname or name Garbi, without developing further etymological details.