The story
Likely of North Italian origin, from the Langobardic Italian names Azzo (meaning 'noble') and Pardo. It is a rare surname, present in Italy (Sicily), France (Marseille) and Greece (Corfù), areas of Maltese diaspora. It is sometimes said to be of Jewish origin (from sefardi) but this is not considered a reliable etymology as the name was already attested in Malta in 1419-1420.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.