According to the Anthropological Survey of India, the term Kunbi is derived from kun and bi meaning people and seeds respectively. Fused together, the two terms mean "those who germinate more seeds from one seed". Another etymology states that Kunbi is believed to have come from the Marathi word kunbawa, or Sanskrit kur, "agricultural tillage". Yet another etymology states that Kunbi derives from kutumba (family), or from the Dravidian kul, "husbandman" or "labourer". Thus anyone who took up the occupation of a cultivator could be brought under the generic term Kunbi.Russell and Lal imply that the derivation from kun (root) or kan (grain) combined with bi (seed) is not probable. G. S. Ghurye has posited that while the term may "signify the occupation of the group, viz., that of cultivation ... it is not improbable that the name may be of tribal origin."
Other spellings and variants include: Kulambi (Deccan), Kulwadi (South Konkan), Kanbi (Gujarat), Kulbi (Belgaum), Reddies (Andhra Pradesh), Kurmi (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand).[16] Singh and Lal also report that Cocoona is synonymous with Kunbi in Gujarat
