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

Balish, 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 Balish surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Balish in America

Balish is the 133048th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Balish surname appeared 127 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 Balish.

We can also compare 2010 data for Balish 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.

The history of the last name Balish

The surname Balish has its origins in the regions of modern-day Poland and Belarus. It is believed to have derived from the Slavic word "bal", which means "swamp" or "marsh". This suggests that the name was likely borne by individuals who lived near wetlands or marshy areas in these regions during the medieval period.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Balish can be found in the Revizja Putna, a Polish cadastral record from the late 16th century. The document mentions a certain Jan Balish, a landowner in the village of Krzywda, located in what is now eastern Poland.

In the 17th century, the name Balish appears in various church registers and tax records across the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Notable examples include Maciej Balish, a merchant from Vilnius (born around 1635), and Katarzyna Balish, a noblewoman from the Grodno region (died in 1692).

The name Balish can also be traced to the Prussian region of Germany, where it appears to have been adopted by families of Polish or Belarusian descent. One such individual was Johann Balish, a Prussian soldier who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and was awarded the Iron Cross for his bravery (1793-1856).

As the Balish family spread across Europe, variations of the name emerged, such as Balisz, Baliszewski, and Baliszewicz. These variations often reflected the addition of Polish or Lithuanian suffixes to the original surname.

In the 19th century, the name Balish gained prominence in the Russian Empire, particularly in the Grodno Governorate (modern-day Belarus and eastern Poland). A notable figure from this period was Ignacy Balish, a Polish-Belarusian landowner and philanthropist who founded several schools and hospitals in the region (1824-1901).

Another prominent individual with the surname Balish was Jadwiga Balish, a Polish artist and painter who gained recognition for her portraits and landscapes in the early 20th century (1887-1968).

While the name Balish is most commonly associated with Poland, Belarus, and the wider Slavic region, it has also been adopted by families in other parts of the world, particularly in countries with significant Polish and Belarusian diaspora communities.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Balish

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

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 Balish was:

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 Balish has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

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 Balish was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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