Surname Balen in modern Croatia

Balen families are Croats and they are mostly from Obrovac area. In the past century, relatively most of Croatian residents bearing this family name were born in Zagreb and in Obrovac area.

Prevalence

About 950 people with faimily name Balen live in Croatia today, in 440 households. There were 790 of them in the middle of the past century, and their number increased by 20 percent.
They are located in almost all Croatian counties, in 56 cities and 89 other places, mostly in Zagreb (280), Rijeka (85), Slavonski Brod (30), Sisak (30), and in Djakovo (25).

Outside Croatia

At least 40 families with this surname emigrated from Croatia to: Germany (12), the United States (10), Canada (10), Switzerland (3), Argentina (3), Norway (1), and to the United Kingdom (1).
Family name Balen (including: Ballen , Baalen , Bahlen , Ballien , Bhalen , Baleen and Balhen ) is present in 63 countries worldwide. "Ballen " is used by some 20000 people in Colombia , about 1000 in the United States , and some 700 people in Venezuela. "Bahlen " is used by small number of people in the Netherlands and small number in the United States. "Ballien " is used by some 70 people in the United States.

Characteristic first names

Branka Balen, Marko Balen, Ivica Balen, Ante Balen, Sanja Balen, Braslav Balen, Livija Balen, Mladen Balen, Ivan Balen, Dražen Balen, Igor Balen, Milka Balen, Jadranka Balen, Zdravko Balen, Tomo Balen, Branko Balen, Mislav Balen, Drago Balen, Goran Balen

Mentions in sources

In the sources analysed in the project Acta Croatica so far, the name is mentioned over twenty times, the first time 1906 in source Yearbook and Directory of Literary Society of St. Jerome 1906.

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