P. Regati notes that this surname is the most characteristic of Sanremo, in the region of Liguria, and that it is also a surname proper to the Brigasco area. Regati further documents a lineage in Syracuse, in Sicily, under the variant Lantieri.

V. Blunda proposes a Germanic origin for the surname, deriving it from the compound landa hari, formed by landa ("land, territory") and hari ("army, host"), with the general sense of "host of the land" or "territorial army". Blunda sets this origin in the context of Lombard military organization, in which each district contributed an armed contingent to the kingdom in proportion to its resources, and in which the possession of land and the capacity to bear arms were legally linked.