The scholars consulted agree that this surname derives from the medieval Italian given name Morando, formed from Moro with the suffix -ando, shaped in part on the model of the French epic name Morand. It is also recorded that Morando carried the meaning "steadfast." The surname spread mainly in northern and central Italy, with the greatest frequency in Tuscany and in Emilia-Romagna.

E. De Felice adds that the variant Morando is concentrated in the areas of Piedmont and Liguria, and that Morandìn is characteristic of the Veneto region. E. Rossoni maps the distribution of the variants in greater detail: Morandi occupies the strip running from Lombardy through Emilia-Romagna into upper Tuscany; Morandini extends across the areas of Brescia, Verona, and Trent, with a further presence in the areas of Udine and Florence; Morandotti is specific to the areas of Milan and Pavia.

Rossoni further documents the given name in a legal instrument of 1061 cited by Ludovico Antonio Muratori, and notes that the surname appears as early as the second half of the fifteenth century with the painter Paolo Morando. F. De Laurentiis concurs with De Felice on the general geographic distribution across northern and central Italy.

R. Brondolo emphasizes the epic origin of the name, attributing its wide diffusion to the storytellers who performed at popular gatherings, a practice that is said to have favored the adoption of Morando as a fashionable given name in northern Italy, paving the way for its subsequent transformation into a surname.