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Béla (given name)

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Béla (Hungarian: [ˈbeːlɒ]; Serbian or Slovak variants are Бeлa, Bela or Belo) is a common Hungarian male given name. Its most likely etymology is from old Hungarian bél ("heart; insides" in Old Hungarian and "intestines" in modern Hungarian; in both the symbolism is "guts" i.e. bravery and character). Other possible etymological source is a Turkic word boila/boyla – "noble, distinguished", which was a title of high nobility among the Bulgars and Blue Turks.

Due to fame and importance of the saint Adalbert of Prague (~956–997) for early mediaeval Hungarian, Czech and Polish cultural history, the name Béla have been artificially assigned to Germanic name Adalbert ("noble bright") and Slavonic name Vojtěch/Wojciech ("consolator of troops"), although among these names there isn't any linguistic relationship.

People

See also