The authors agree that the surname presents several possible etymologies. The first points back to a hagiographic origin linked to the saint Saint Rubianus. The second connects the surname with predial place names —that is, place names derived from rural properties— built on the Latin family name Rubius. The third relates it to robbia, a plant used to dye cloth red.

E. Rossoni adds a fourth path: the direct derivation from the place name Robbiano, a locality of the Milan area, which would place the surname among those of toponymic origin. Rossoni notes as the area of greatest diffusion the Milan area and the Como area, both in Lombardy.

R. Brondolo, for his part, extends the area of presence towards Piedmont and the canton of Ticino, in Switzerland, which suggests a distribution that goes beyond the strictly Lombard sphere and projects towards the north-western regions of Italy and the transalpine Italian-speaking zone.