The authors agree that this surname has as its base medieval nicknames and trade names derived from tromba, trombetta and the old trombatore or trombadore, meaning "player of the trumpet or bugle, trumpeter" and, formerly, "town crier", since he summoned the people by sounding the trumpet to announce a public proclamation or edict.

E. Rossoni adds that the nickname could also have been used mockingly, to make fun of the founder of the surname for some physical or behavioural defect. As for the geographical distribution, Rossoni places Tromba mainly in the Verona area, the Trieste area and the Campobasso area; Trombetta as a pan-Italian surname, more widespread in the centre-south and Sicily; Trombetti in the Bologna area, the Rome area and the area between Caserta and Naples; Trombin in the Rovigo area and in the Novara, Alessandria and Casale Monferrato areas; Trombini in the Ferrara, Rovigo and Ravenna areas, with a presence also in the Brescia, Cremona and Mantua areas; and Trombino in the Cosenza area and in Sicily.

E. De Felice notes that the frequency of the surname varies according to the variant: Trombetta reaches a notable presence in eastern Sicily, Trombetti in Emilia-Romagna, and Trombin in Veneto.