E. Rossoni places the surname mainly in Serino and its surroundings, in the Avellino area, with a presence also in the Naples and Salerno areas, all in the region of Campania. According to Rossoni, it would derive from one of the place names Mariconda: that of Pompeii, in the Naples area, or that of Scafati, in the Salerno area. As evidence of its fixing as a surname, he notes a notarial deed of 1392 in Salerno signed by the notary Andrea Mariconda, and records that in 1470 the jurist Diomede Mariconda was born in Naples.

V. Blunda, by contrast, proposes a different etymology and confines the surname to Sicily. He considers it of Germanic root, derived from the compound maru-gundi, formed by maru ("famous", "renowned") and gundi ("combat", "struggle"), with the overall meaning of "illustrious in battle". Blunda observes that this association between fame and valour reflects the ancient Germanic conception of personal prestige as the result of courageous conduct in combat, recognized by the group and transmitted orally in sagas and heroic songs.

The two proposals are hard to reconcile: Rossoni points to a Campanian toponymic origin, while Blunda upholds a Germanic anthroponymic base linked to Sicily, which suggests possible independent clusters of origin in different regions of Italy.