Béla (given name)

Béla (Magyar /belɒ/, English /beɪlə/ "BAY-luh") is a common Hungarian male given name. Its most likely etymology is from old Hungarian bél (heart, inside - meaning intestines in modern Hungarian) or the Turkic origin is also possible (its Turkic meaning: distinguished). An alternative theory speculates that it comes from the Slavic word for white.

Notable Bélas include:

Béla I of Hungary
Béla II of Hungary
Béla III of Hungary
Béla IV of Hungary
Béla Balázs, Hungarian film critic, writer and poet
Béla Bartók, Hungarian composer
Béla Bollobás, Hungarian mathematician
Béla Fleck, American banjo player
Béla Károlyi, an ethnic Hungarian Romanian gymnastics teacher
Béla Király, Hungarian resistance fighter during World War II, as well as a military historian, author, and politician.
Béla Kun, Hungarian Communist politician who ruled Hungary as the leader of the Hungarian Soviet Republic for a brief period in 1919
Béla Lugosi, Hungarian actor in horror films, most well known for his performance as the title character in Dracula
Béla Rajki-Reich, Hungarian swimming coach and water polo coach
Béla Tarr, Hungarian film director

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