Explore the Family Name Ballas

The meaning of Ballas

1. Greek: from Albanian ballë ‘forehead, brow’, a nickname for someone with a prominent brow. 2. Greek: possibly also from bal(l)a ‘ball’, from Italian balla ‘ball, bullet; cannonball’, a nickname for someone who was short and fat. 3. German: variant of Baldas, from a shortened form of the personal name Baltazar.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Ballas in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname "Ballas" saw a decrease between 2000 and 2010. Initially ranked at 17,588 in 2000, its rank dropped to 21,868 by 2010, marking a decline of 24.33%. The count of individuals with this surname also fell from 1,473 to 1,188 during this time, representing a decrease of 19.35%. Consequently, the proportion of people named Ballas per 100,000 declined by 27.27%, from 0.55 to 0.4.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#17,588	#21,868	-24.33%
Count	1,473	1,188	-19.35%
Proportion per 100k	0.55	0.4	-27.27%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Ballas

Regarding ethnicity, the same Decennial U.S. Census data reveals interesting shifts between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, approximately 94.91% of the people with the Ballas surname identified as White, reducing slightly to 94.19% by 2010. The percentage of those identifying as Hispanic rose from 3.05% to 3.87%. Interestingly, the category of 'Two or more races' saw a significant decrease from 1.63% to 0.67%. The group identifying as 'Asian/Pacific Islander' emerged in 2010 with 0.84%, despite being absent in 2000. There were no reported individuals with the Ballas surname who identified as Black or American Indian and Alaskan Native in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.91%	94.19%	-0.76%
Hispanic	3.05%	3.87%	26.89%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.84%	0%
Two or More Races	1.63%	0.67%	-58.9%
Black	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%