E. Rossoni notes that this is a very rare surname, originating in the Matera area, in the region of Basilicata, and does not rule out a connection with the place name Spilinga —a locality in the province of Vibo Valentia, in Calabria— through an aphaeresis, that is, the loss of the initial syllable of the name.

V. Blunda, by contrast, considers it a Sicilian surname of Germanic root, derived from the personal name Lalling, a patronymic form linked to a Lombard onomastic base with the suffix -ing, which in Old Germanic indicated belonging to the bearer's lineage. Blunda adds that the Romance adaptation -inga is characteristic of southern Italy, where contact between the Germanic languages and the Italic dialects generated long-lasting mixed forms.

The two authors differ both on the geographical origin and on the etymology of the surname, without either explicitly refuting the other.