Baltazar
A Hebrew name meaning "Bel protects the king", still given only to boys. It stays rare: three newborn boys carried it last year, and most Poles have never met one.
Baltazar Pronunciation
Baltazar is pronounced bahl-TAH-zahr (/balˈtazar/).
What Baltazar means
Where Baltazar comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Baltazar comes from a Hebrew rendering of Belshazzar, a name first built in Babylon. Its parts name a god and a request: Bel, protect the king. The sense kept in Polish today reads boże, strzeż króla.
In the Book of Daniel, Belshazzar is the king who sees the writing on the wall. Centuries later the name attached itself to one of the three magi from the East. This is the Baltazar most Poles now recognise.
Every year on 6 January, the feast of the Trzej Królowie, families mark the top of the door with chalk: K+M+B, for Kacper, Melchior and Baltazar. That is also the name day. A boy called Baltazar shares his imieniny with a king from the East, and with the older plea folded inside the name, bel protects the king.
When Baltazar celebrates name day
Baltazar appears 3 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 6 January.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Baltazar
1 in 151391 men in Poland is named Baltazar. 141 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2756 among male names.
Baltazar's popularity over time
3 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #1207 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2013.
Where Baltazar is most popular
Baltazar is most popular in Lesser Poland, 471% above the national average (6 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Greater Poland (+101%) and Masovian (+22%).
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Lesser Poland6 boys born+471%
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Greater Poland2 boys born+101%
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Masovian2 boys born+22%
Baltazar as a middle name
Baltazar is a first name for 141 men in Poland and a middle name for another 522, a 21/79 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 315th, between Can (523) and Lucas (520).
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#313 Simon529
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#314 Can523
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#315 Baltazar522
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#316 Lucas520
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#317 Angel505