The authors agree that this surname derives from the given name Gobbo, which in turn comes from a nickname referring to physical characteristics, formed from gobbo ("hunchbacked"). Both cite the same early documentation: it is recorded in Camaldoli, in the region of Tuscany, as early as the year 1060, in the form Boniti filius quondam Gobbi. Its diffusion is concentrated in central and northern Italy, with the greatest frequency in Lombardy and in north-eastern Italy, in the regions of Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige.

E. De Felice adds that the surname gave rise to patronymic variants with the prepositions De or Di, as well as to forms such as Gobbis or Gobis, apocopated forms, Gobbato and Gobessi.