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Family name origins & meanings
- Ukrainian, Belorussian, Romanian, and Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic) : from a Russian word meaning ‘hawk’, probably usually applied as a descriptive nickname, although it could also be an occupational name for a falconer. In Ukrainian and Belorussian balaban also means ‘chatterer’. In patronymic form (Balabanov) it is also found as a Russian and Bulgarian surname.
- Greek : nickname for a big man, from Turkish balaban ‘tame bear’, or a shortened form of some other family name derived from this word, such as Balabanis, Balabanidis, Balabanos, or Balabanopoulos.