The sources present different and non-coinciding etymologies for this surname.

G. Rohlfs considers it a surname of Greek-Byzantine origin, documented in the province of Reggio Calabria, in the locality of Mèlito. He interprets it as a variant of Rodà, linked to the Greek surname Rodàs, belonging to the onomastic family of the rose or of the island of Rhodes, and he relates it to the Byzantine presence in southern Italy.

V. Blunda, on the other hand, proposes a Germanic origin and places it as a Sicilian surname. He derives it from the personal name Hroda, based on the root hrod —which in ancient Germanic anthroponymy expresses the idea of glory or fame— in a feminine or hypocoristic form. Blunda notes that hrod is one of the most productive formants of the Germanic name system and appears as an initial element in widely diffused compounds in Europe, such as Roberto, Rodolfo, Roderico, Rolando or Rodrigo, all linked to the ideal of glory as public recognition of personal worth. He adds that, as a surname, it is preserved in areas of central and northern Italy where Germanic anthroponymy left a dense substrate.

The two proposals —Greek and Germanic— are not reconcilable with each other, and the sources further associate them with different regions: Calabria in the case of Rohlfs and Sicily in that of Blunda. The surname therefore presents independent origins in different regions of Italy.