The sources agree that it is a typically Venetan surname, concentrated mainly in the Treviso area, with presence also in the Padua and Rovigo areas, and more specifically in those of Verona, Vicenza and Venice. It is a patronymic variant of the given name Gaspare, formed by means of the Venetan diminutive suffix -etto, with an affective value, which gives it the original sense of "the little Gaspare" or "the descendant of Gaspare".

E. Rossoni and E. De Felice agree in noting that Gaspare is the name of one of the three Magi of the tradition subsequent to the Gospels, whose cult spread in Italy during the Late Middle Ages, and that its etymology refers to the ancient Persian gaθbara, with the sense of "treasurer" or "bearer of treasures".

F. De Laurentiis proposes an alternative etymology: the name could represent the reduction of the old Persian adjective windahwarena, meaning "the one who has splendour in himself". This hypothesis does not necessarily contradict the previous one, but points to a more archaic form of the same Iranian etymon.