F. Miranda notes that the surname derives probably from the medieval Italian name Galvanus, an Italianization of Gawain, the famous knight of the Arthurian cycle, nephew of King Arthur. This name would be linked to the Welsh Gwalchmei and, through the archaic French Galvaing, would have evolved to the Italian Galvano, meaning "good hawk of the battle".

G. P. Holmes adds that in Messina, Sicily, there is a locality with this name, and that Galvano is in turn a derivative of Galván, which coincides in essence with the etymological chain proposed by Miranda.

The surname presents multiple independent clusters of origin (ceppi), arisen in different regions without direct relation between them. According to Miranda, it is spread through Sicily, Piedmont, Lombardy, Liguria, Lazio, Tuscany, Sardinia, Trentino-Alto Adige and the Marche. The densest presence is recorded in Sicily, especially in the Catania, Messina, Palermo and Syracuse areas.