E. Rossoni notes that this surname, together with its augmentative forms, derives from nicknames based on the Lombard dialectal term tenca, the name of a lake fish (the tench). Tenca is typical of the zone comprising Milan, Lodi, Cremona and Mantua; the variant Tenconi is typical of the Varese area, with a wide diffusion also in the Milan and Como areas.

R. Brondolo specifies that the word comes from the northern dialect tenca or tinca, the name of the same fish, and provides a fact of ancient usage: the term was employed as a personal name (Tinca) by Cicero and Quintilian in reference to Cisalpine Gaul, which suggests a long tradition of the word in northern Italy before its transformation into a surname.