The authors agree that this surname has a Germanic root and that its second element is wulf / wulfa, with the meaning "wolf". A. Bongioanni documents the Lombard form Minulfus in the chronicler Paul the Deacon, notes that the first element is of obscure etymology according to the scholar Weber, and records the Tuscan variant Minolfi.

V. Blunda proposes a more detailed reading of the surname as Sicilian of Germanic origin, derived from the compound Magin Wulfa, formed by magin ("strength, power") and wulfa ("wolf"), with the joint meaning "powerful wolf" or "wolf of strength". Blunda adds that this association between the warrior and the wolf points back to an ancient Germanic conception present also in the figure of the Scandinavian úlfheðnar, warriors linked to the god Odin who fought in a state of ecstatic frenzy, identifying themselves ritually with the wolf as a totemic animal.