Variants identified in Italy: Tamborini, Tamborino, Tamborrini, Tamborrino, Tamburini, Tamburino, Tamburrini, Tamburrino, Tamburelli, Tamburello, Tamburi, Tamburo, Tamburrelli, Tamburrello, Tamburri, Tamburro, Tamurri.

All these surnames would derive, directly or through various hypocoristic forms, from nicknames coming from the activity of drummer or banditore ("town crier") that the first bearers of the surname probably carried out. In the medieval period the tamburellus was the town crier of the commune who, with the sound of the drum, drew the attention of the people to whom he had to communicate the announcements or notices of the country's authorities.

It could also refer to the function of drummer, in the army or as a crier, or to episodes related to the use of the drum. Tamurri probably originated in a transcription error of one of the surnames cited above.