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). Other possible sources are a Turkic word meaning 'distinguished' and 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 Bugár, Slovak politician of Hungarian ethnicity
• 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