A. Bongioanni notes that this surname derives from a given name of Germanic origin, formed by the roots kun ("bold") and gund ("war"). He mentions that gund appears also in gundfano, equivalent to the Italian gonfalone ("war standard"). Bongioanni relates this surname to other similar ones, such as Ildegonda and Radegonda, and notes its convergence in the surnames Gondi, peculiar to Tuscany, and Góndolo, peculiar to Piedmont.

V. Blunda, for his part, places it as a surname peculiar to Sicily and breaks down the Germanic compound in a different way: kunja (lineage, family, stock) and gunth (combat, struggle), with the joint meaning of "combat of the lineage" or "battle of the stock". Blunda also specifies that the root kunja is the same one that gave rise to the modern German Kind ("child, son"), with a semantic shift from the collective sense of lineage towards the individual one of descendant.

Both authors agree on the historical figure of reference: Saint Cunegonda, wife of the emperor Henry II of the Holy Roman Empire, who died around 1040. Blunda adds that she was canonised in 1200 and became the patroness of the Duchy of Luxembourg; her feast is celebrated on 3 March.