The authors agree that this is a surname of Hebrew origin, linked to the name lewi, which designates the descendant of the tribe of the Levites, founded by Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. This tribe retained the privileges proper to the priestly caste.

E. De Felice specifies that the Hebrew term lewi has two senses: "minor priest, singer of psalms" and "descendant of the tribe of the Levites". He notes that the surname is frequent in northern Italy and in Tuscany, with a presence in Milan, and appears sporadically in the centre and south of the country.

E. Rossoni adds that the surname is predominantly concentrated in Lombardy and stresses that the Levitical tribe was the one to which Moses also belonged. He further incorporates an additional hypothesis: the surname could function as a shortened form in the case of foundlings, derived from compounds such as Diotallevi.