E. Rossoni notes that Malinverni is proper to eastern Piedmont and western Lombardy, with a presence in the Vercelli, Novara, Milan and Pavia areas. The variant Malinverno, by contrast, is specific to western Lombardy, particularly to the Como area. According to Rossoni, both forms would derive from nicknames linked perhaps to characteristics of the ancestors' place of origin, or else given to a child born during an especially harsh winter. The same author documents one of the earliest appearances of the surname in a Carta convenientie, finis et divisionis of the year 1184 at Ozzero, in the Milan area.

R. Brondolo proposes, by contrast, a reading of a geographical and descriptive kind: the surname would indicate the inhabitant of an area exposed to the north, that is, to the side of the winter cold, which would point to an origin in the position of the terrain or of the family dwelling with respect to the winter winds.