E. De Felice notes that this surname is of toponymic origin, derived from the localities of Solbiate, in the Como area, and Solbiate Arno and Solbiate Olona, in the Varese area, being frequent in northern Lombardy and the Milan area.

E. Rossoni agrees in connecting it with that same set of place names and specifies that the surname is typical of the Milan area and the Varese area. He adds that the form Solbiate would be explained by the accumulative suffix -ate —which indicates "property of"— joined to the Latin name Subrius, documented in Tacitus's Histories. He also mentions the old locality of Solbiate Monte, in the Varese area, as a possible additional point of origin.