Balázs

Balázs (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈbɒlaːʒ]) is a Hungarian surname and male given name, equivalent to the French name Blaise. The name can be traced back to the Latin Blaesus (later Blasius) family. One branch of the gens Cornelia distinguished itself with this name from the rest of the family. The Hungarian variant was formed by consonant cluster reduction in the Latin version by inserting an 'a' sound.

Balázs

Gender	masculine
Language(s)	Hungarian
Name day	February 3
Origin
Language(s)	Latin
Meaning	Disputed
Other names
Nickname(s)	Bazsi, Bali, Balu
Anglicisation(s)	Blaise

Etymology

The etymology of the word is disputed. In some explanations, the Latin name Blasius has been identified with the Greek Basileus, meaning 'royal'. Other sources explain the meaning of the name as a combination of two words. According to those, the prefix is blandus ('affable') or belasius~bel ('dress'), while in the suffix syros ('small') lies.

As a settlement name

The name often appears as a toponym as well, but sometimes it is only present or recognizable in the Hungarian variant of the settlement's name:

• Zalaszentbalázs (Hungary)
• Szentbalázs (Hungary)
• Baláže (Balázs) (Slovakia)
• Blažov (Balázsfa) (Slovakia, Dunajská Streda District)
• Blažov (Balázsvágás) (Slovakia, Prešov Region)
• Blažovce (Turócbalázsfalva) (Slovakia)
• Blaj (Balázsfalva) (Romania)
• Blăjel (Balázstelke) (Romania)
• Balazher (Балажер/Balazsér) (Ukraine)

Notable persons

As a surname:

• André Balazs (born 1957), American hotelier and residential developer
• Árpád Balázs (born 1937), Hungarian classical music composer
• Attila Balázs (born 1988), Hungarian tennis player
• Béla Balázs (1884–1949), Hungarian-Jewish film critic and poet
• Endre Alexander Balazs (1920–2015), Hungarian-American in the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame
• Étienne Balázs (1905–1963), Hungarian-French sinologist
• Harold Balazs (1928–2017), American sculptor
• Janika Balázs (1925–1988), Serbian musician
• Márton Balázs (1929–2016), Romanian mathematician of Hungarian descent
• Mihály Balázs (born 1948), Hungarian historian
• Nándor Balázs (1926–2003), Hungarian-American physicist
• Péter Balázs (born 1941), Hungarian politician
• Péter Balázs (canoeist) (born 1982), Hungarian canoeist
• Peter Balazs (mathematician) (born 1970), Austrian mathematician

As a given name:

• Balázs Borbély (born 1979), Hungarian footballer
• Balázs Dzsudzsák (born 1986), Hungarian footballer
• Balázs Farkas-Jenser (born 1990), Hungarian singer and guitarist
• Balázs Kiss (athlete) (born 1972), Hungarian Olympic athlete
• Balázs Ladányi (born 1976), Hungarian ice hockey player
• Balázs Orbán (1829–1890), Hungarian writer and politician
• Balázs Sebestyén (born 1977), Hungarian media person
• Balázs Sudár (born 1972), Hungarian historian, turkologist, and musician
• Balázs Taróczy (born 1954), Hungarian tennis player

Sources

• Fercsik, Erzsébet; Raátz, Judit (2009). Keresztnevek enciklopédiája (PDF) (in Hungarian). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó. ISBN 978 963 9902 18 3.