E. Rossoni and V. Blunda differ on the origin of the surname.

Rossoni derives it from a nickname based on the dialect word podetto, which designates a type of large knife.

Blunda, on the other hand, for the Sicilian variant proposes a Germanic root, from the personal name Bod, a hypocoristic form linked to the root bod ('messenger, herald'), with the Italian suffix -etti, productive in the formation of medieval surnames. The root bod preserves its sense in the modern German Bote ('messenger'), a central institution of the medieval administration, since the royal bote travelled the territories of the kingdom transmitting the orders of the sovereign and gathering information for the court, an essential function in an age when the written word was the privilege of the chancelleries and most of the official communication was transmitted orally.