# What kind of name is "Balzary?"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-balzary/309035>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 20, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-balzary/309035 "2005-06-20T13:05:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-balzary/309035/1 "2005-06-20T13:05:47Z")

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I’ve always been pretty good at identifying the origins of surnames, but I’ve never heard “Balzary” - the surname of Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist and all-around cool guy Flea, aka Michael Balzary.

My guess would be Polish or maybe Hungarian. Does anyone have an idea?

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**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2005, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-balzary/309035/2 "2005-06-20T14:13:36Z")

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I also guess Hungarian.

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**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-balzary/309035/3 "2005-06-21T12:51:29Z")

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My first guess was Hungarian too, and to confirm that, I googled around a bit. [http://home.vicnet.net.au/~adhs/LetterB.htmlThis](http://home.vicnet.net.au/~adhs/LetterB.htmlThis) page, presenting the scanned contents for genealogical reasons, features a Hungarian miner named Albert Vincent Balzary.

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**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-balzary/309035/4 "2005-06-21T13:20:04Z")

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Does this name share any origins with that of the French writer Balzac?

Every time this name was mentioned in my high school European History class, the obligatory wave of giggles rose up from the male side of the classrom.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\
**Post date:** [June 21, 2005, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kind-of-name-is-balzary/309035/5 "2005-06-21T15:35:13Z")

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Any teachers wishing to avoid this hazard - go for a short ‘a’ sound in both syllables, that’s how the Frensh say it. (I had to stretch my imagination & then my pronunciation, to see what the lads would have been sniggering at.)