E. Rossoni notes that it is a surname typical of Sardinia, with a presence in the Cagliari and Nuoro areas. Its origin would be a nickname derived from dialectal modifications of the Latin word tollere; according to other hypotheses, it would come from the medieval Sardinian surname Totolle, of uncertain origin.

V. Blunda proposes, on the other hand, a Germanic root: the surname would derive from the personal name Theud, linked to the root theud ("people, nation"), in its simple form without a second compositional element. The consonantal doubling -dd- would respond to a phonetic feature of medieval Italian to express affective or intensive forms of the original name, especially active in some dialectal areas. Blunda highlights that the surname is preserved mainly in Sardinia, where onomastics of Germanic root would have arrived by indirect routes through the medieval commercial contacts with the maritime republics of northern Italy.

The two proposals differ substantially: while Rossoni seeks the origin in the Latin lexicon or in medieval Sardinian onomastics, Blunda links it to the Germanic heritage extended towards Sardinia from the north of the Italian peninsula.