Balla Family History

Hungarian: from a short form of Ballabás a variant of the personal name Barnabás (see Barnaby). This surname is also common in Slovakia.

Italian: from balla which in its earliest sense meant ‘dance’ but from the 14th century was used to denote goods packed for transport i.e. ‘bale or bundle (of merchandise)’. Hence it came to be used as a metonymic occupational name for a carrier.

Albanian: nickname or metonymic occupational name from balla ‘half-soles’ (in shoe repair). Alternatively a cognate of Balli.

Indian (Andhra Pradesh): name found in the Kamma community of cultivators perhaps a habitational name from the Balla village in Andhra Pradesh.

Central African (Cameroon): unexplained.