The authors agree that this surname may derive from Italian place names bearing the name Novi, such as Novi di Modena or Novi Velia, in the Salerno area, among other localities.

E. Rossoni also notes a possible relation with place names containing the root novo, such as Castelnovo, in the Rovigo area. According to Rossoni, the surname shows a presence in the Pisa area —specifically at Pontedera and Santa Maria a Monte—, in the Salerno area —at Angri— and in the Ferrara area. The variant Novo is recorded in the Rovigo area and in the west of Piedmont.

F. De Laurentiis supplies an alternative etymology: the surname could come from the medieval name and nickname Novello, derived from novello, "new; young". This term was used as a second name to distinguish a younger member of the family who shared the name of another relative, or else was assigned to the last-born child, or to the one born after the loss of a previous child.