Balaz last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Balaz is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Balaz.

Meaning of Balaz

A surname derived from the Hungarian variant of the name Blaise.

Balaz, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Balaz surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Balaz in America

Balaz is the 98553rd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Balaz surname appeared 184 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Balaz.

We can also compare 2010 data for Balaz to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 98553 80812 19.78%
Count 184 218 -16.92%
Proportion per 100k 0.06 0.08 -28.57%

The history of the last name Balaz

The surname BALAZ is believed to have originated in Hungary, where it first appeared in the late 15th century. It is derived from the Hungarian word "balázs," which is a variant of the name "Blaise" or "Blazius." The name Blazius itself is derived from the Latin name "Blasius," which means "lisper" or "stammerer."

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname BALAZ can be found in a document from 1487, which mentions a certain Petrus Balaz residing in the town of Pest (now part of Budapest). In the 16th and 17th centuries, the BALAZ surname began to spread across various regions of Hungary, particularly in the counties of Békés, Csongrád, and Hajdú-Bihar.

A notable figure bearing the BALAZ surname was György Balaz (1551-1625), a Hungarian Protestant reformer and theologian who played a significant role in the spread of Calvinism in the country. He was also involved in translating the Bible into Hungarian.

Another prominent individual was János Balaz (1802-1868), a Hungarian painter and lithographer who is considered one of the pioneers of Hungarian lithography. His works often depicted scenes from everyday life and landscapes.

In the 19th century, the surname BALAZ was also found in neighboring regions, such as Transylvania (now part of Romania) and the Slovak regions of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. One example is Sándor Balaz (1825-1899), a Hungarian-Slovak writer and journalist who contributed to the cultural and literary development of the Slovak community.

Moving into the 20th century, a notable figure was Béla Balaz (1884-1949), a Hungarian writer, poet, and film theorist who is considered one of the most influential figures in the early development of film theory. His works, such as "The Visible Man" and "The Spirit of Film," explored the aesthetic and theoretical aspects of cinema.

Lastly, it's worth mentioning Zoltán Balaz (1909-1994), a Hungarian-American mathematician and computer scientist who made significant contributions to the field of information theory and coding theory. He worked for several prestigious institutions, including Bell Labs and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Balaz

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Balaz.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Balaz was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 92.39% 170
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 2.72% 5
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races (S)% (S)
Hispanic Origin 4.35% 8

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Balaz has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 92.39% 85.78% 7.42%
Black (S)% 0.00% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander 2.72% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races (S)% 4.59% (S)%
Hispanic 4.35% 6.42% -38.44%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Balaz was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Balaz, please contact us.

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