E. De Felice considers that this surname represents mainly a Latinizing variant —frequently only graphic or notarial— of Selva, or else a regional variant of the same. He notes that, in the Naples area, where it is fairly common, it may also be a loan from the homonymous Spanish surname, which is very frequent in that language. In the rest of Italy, De Felice describes it as sporadic and rare.

E. Rossoni places it in a strip that goes from the Como area to the Parma area, passing through the Milan, Pavia and Piacenza areas. According to Rossoni, it would derive from an identifier of locality linked to the proximity to a wood or forest. He documents the Selva family as a noble line of the Val d'Ossola from the 12th century, and mentions as a notable figure Paolo Silva (1476–1536), a military commander in the service of the kings of France Louis XII and Francis I.