E. Rossoni notes that this surname is very infrequent and proper to the upper part of the Modena area, in Emilia-Romagna. He proposes two hypotheses about its origin. The first links it to an Armenian root: it would derive from the given name Lusvard, compounded from luys ("light") and Vard ("rose"), widespread in that region. The second hypothesis considers it a variant of the surname Lusuardi, a possibility supported by the fact that in medieval spelling no distinction was made between v and u, which would explain the alternation between the two forms.

V. Blunda offers a different reading and places the surname in Sicily, with a Germanic root. He derives it from the compound Laudi Vardu, formed by laudi ("glory, fame") and vardu ("guard, custody"), with the overall sense of "guardian of glory". He notes that the root vardu is the same one that gave rise to the Italian guardia and the Spanish guardar. He adds that the surname survives in Alpine and pre-Alpine areas of northern Italy, where Germanic anthroponymy left a dense onomastic substratum from the Lombard period through to the late Middle Ages.

The two proposals are hard to reconcile: Rossoni points to an Armenian or dialect origin in the Modena area, while Blunda posits a Germanic base with a presence in Sicily and in northern Italy.