The authors differ on the origin of this surname. E. Rossoni proposes that it would derive from the medieval name Gibellus, documented in the Baldus of Teofilo Folengo, and that the Sicilian group could also come from a nickname related to the Arabic term gebel ("mountains"), alluding to mountain-dweller characteristics of the founding ancestor. Rossoni documents its fixing as a surname in Ventimiglia, in the Imperia area, in the year 1514, where eighteen heads of family signing a deed bore the form Gibellus.

V. Blunda, by contrast, proposes a different dialect origin for the Sicilian case: the word gibbèdda, which designates the ring of stone or iron set into the outer walls of rural houses, where mules and horses were tethered. According to Blunda, the surname may have arisen as a microtoponym applied to someone who lived beside a well-known tethering ring, or else as a nickname for the blacksmith who made them. He further notes that the form is a phonetic variant of Cibella, with initial g-/c- alternation.

As for its geographical distribution, Rossoni indicates that Gibella is proper to the Agrigento and Caltanissetta areas, in Sicily; Gibelli is specific to the Milan area, the Pavia area and Liguria; and Gibello corresponds to the Piedmont area, in particular to the Vercelli and Turin areas.