The authors agree that this surname derives from the medieval auspicious name Salimbene, composed of the words sali ("rise") and bene ("well"), with the sense of "grow in good" or "for the good." E. De Felice considers it semantically parallel to surnames such as Crescimbene and Nascimbene. E. De Stefani adds that, in the medieval tradition, imposing this name on a newborn was almost an augury for its life, and that over time it became a surname.

Rossoni notes that the surname spread especially from the 14th century thanks to the cult of Saint Salimbene. As to its geographic distribution, De Felice indicates that it is sporadic in peninsular Italy, with a greater presence in Tuscany, while in its other variants it is proper to Sicily. De Stefani, for his part, documents a historical presence in Quinis, a locality of the Carnia —a mountainous zone of northern Friuli, in the province of Udine—, recorded from the end of the 16th century, although today the surname is rare in that region.