E. Rossoni proposes two different hypotheses for this surname. The first links it with the Latin nomen Tavanus, documented in funerary inscriptions and in toponymy. The second considers it an altered form of Taviani, derived from the name Ottaviano, attested in medieval sources of the Modena area. Geographically, Rossoni places its nuclei —that is, the specific zones where the surname is present— in the Rieti, Rome, Piacenza, Modena and Bari areas, with a scattered presence in southern Italy, in Friuli and in Piedmont.

F. De Laurentiis proposes, on the other hand, an appellative base: the term tafano (with the northern variant tavan), the name of an insect similar to the horsefly but of larger size, whose females attack livestock to suck their blood. In a figurative sense, the term designated a very importunate person or one who tried to take advantage of others. De Laurentiis notes that the surname is diffused in the north as well as in the centre and especially in the south of Italy, and admits that in some cases it could derive from the place name Tavani.