E. Rossoni places this surname in the region of Emilia-Romagna, with a presence in the Modena, Bologna and Ferrara areas. The variants Sgargi and Sgarzi are concentrated in the Bologna area. Rossoni proposes several hypotheses on its origin: it could derive from a dialect nickname, or else Sgargi could go back to the Byzantine name Gargius or to the Latin name Gargilius. Another hypothesis points as the origin to the trade of the sgarzatore, the worker who carded or disentangled textile fibres, an activity very widespread in Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy from around the 12th century; in the dialect of the Bologna area this trade was called sgarzer, from which would have derived first Sgarzi and then Sgargi.

F. De Laurentiis proposes, on the other hand, that the base of the surname is nicknames given to people considered sgarbate, that is, discourteous or lacking in manners in their dealings with others, from the absence of garbo ("grace" or "courtesy").