Balaban (name)

Balaban is a personal name and a male given name.

Origin and meaning

The name may be of Persian origin and was first mentioned in border areas of the Byzantine Empire.

The first known bearer of the name was Izz ad-Din Balaban, a ruler of Mameluk origin in eastern Anatolia in the early 13th century. By the 15th century at the latest, a Balaban group of people settled in Anatolia, possibly coming from Thrace ( Dimetoka ). In the following centuries they also lived in Kurdish areas.

Numerous bearers of the name have also been known in Galicia and other Ruthenian regions of Poland-Lithuania since the 15th century . The name has been widespread in East Central Europe and the Balkan Peninsula since the 19th century, including for Jewish families.

Name bearer

• Izz ad-Din Balaban (r. 1207), non-dynastic ruler of the Ahlachahs in eastern Anatolia and Armenia of Mameluk origin
• Arsenios Balaban († 1569), Orthodox Bishop of Lwów (1549–1569)
• Gedeon Balaban (around 1530; † 1607), Orthodox Bishop of Lwów
• Isaiah Balaban († 1620), Orthodox clergyman in Poland-Lithuania
• Adam Balaban (around 1607), Orthodox nobleman in Poland-Lithuania
• Dionysios Balaban († 1667), Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev

• Majer Balaban (1877–1942), historian of Polish Jewry
• Barney Balaban (1887–1971), American film producer and President of Paramount Pictures
• Burt Balaban (1922–1965), American film director and film producer
• Alexandru Balaban (* 1931), Romanian chemist
• Bob Balaban (* 1945), American actor, director and film producer
• Florin Balaban (* 1968), Romanian badminton player
• Boško Balaban (* 1978), Croatian football player
• Alper Balaban (1987-2010), Turkish soccer player
• Liane Balaban (* 1980), Canadian actress

See also

• Balaban (noble family)
• Balaban
• Balaban , other meanings

Individual evidence

1. ↑ From Greece to Dersim. The Balaban tribe and its origins ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ Cf. Balaban (noble family)