E. De Felice, E. Rossoni and F. De Laurentiis agree that the surname was formed from a medieval name or nickname related to selvatico.

De Felice identifies it as a surname formed from a medieval name or nickname linked to selvatico.

Rossoni holds that they would all derive from the medieval name Silvaticus, borne by the medieval Latin writer Silvaticus grammaticus. He notes that the oldest traces go back to the year 1000, and in Campania to the second half of the 13th century with the physician Matthaeus Sylvaticus (c. 1285 – c. 1342). He distinguishes the forms: Selvatici is specific to the area comprising the Bologna, Ravenna and Ferrara areas; Selvatico has small lines between the Pavia, Lodi, Milan and Piacenza areas.

De Laurentiis specifies that the name Selvatico, in Old Italian, also means "woodcutter" and designated one who lived and worked in the woods and forests, or in general far from inhabited centres. With extensive and figurative use, and with a pejorative value, it was also applied to one who was rough, harsh and uncivilized, fierce and inhuman. He notes that the surname is diffused mainly in Emilia and in Veneto.