Belshazzar as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Belshazzar

What is the meaning of the name Belshazzar ?

The baby name Belshazzar is a Male name and is pronounced /bɛlˈʃæzər/ (BEL-shaz-ər).

Belshazzar is Akkadian, Babylonian in Origin.

Belshazzar is a theophoric name from Akkadian Bel-shar-usur (Bēl-šar-uṣur), meaning “Bel, protect the king,” with Bel being the title “lord” chiefly applied to Marduk. It entered English through Biblical Hebrew (Belshatsar/Belšaṣṣar) and Greek–Latin transmission, preserving the sense of divine guardianship over royal authority.

In history, Belshazzar was the Neo-Babylonian crown prince and co-regent under Nabonidus, remembered in the Book of Daniel for the feast and the “writing on the wall,” which cemented the name in Judeo‑Christian literature and art. As a given name in the West it has remained striking but extremely rare, used more in sermons, poetry, and oratorios than in birth records. Variants and related forms include Balthazar/Balthasar (and Spanish/Portuguese Baltasar), Greek/Latin Baltassar/Baltasar, and scholarly transliterations Bel-shar-usur. Cognate but distinct is Belteshazzar (Daniel’s Babylonian name).

⚙ Belshazzar is vanishingly rare. In all, it appears just 3 times, across 3 countries.