Balabanov

Balabanov (Balaban, Balabanoff, Ballabon, etc.) and their derivatives (-ovs, -ich, etc.) are common last names in North Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia. Notable people with the surname include:


 * Aleksei Balabanov (1959-2013), Russian filmmaker
 * Andrey Balabanov, Soviet-born Ukrainian sprint canoer
 * Angelica Balabanov (1878-1965), Russian-Italian Marxist revolutionary, Comintern secretary in 1919-1921
 * Kostantyn Balabanov (born 1982), Ukrainian football player
 * Vasile Balabanov (1873-1947), provincial administrator of Imperial Russia

Origins of the name
Possible origins of the name according to Tudor Balabanov:


 * 1. in the Kazakh Mountains there is an eagle called Balaban from which the name may be derived.


 * 2. One of the recipients of this name may have been the Persians that around 4000 years ago started naming the leading three soldiers of a battalion, namely: the one with the flag, those with a drum, and the one with a blow instrument - the Balabans.


 * 3. The Turks may have taken over this name and given it to the relatively tall non-Muslim men from their territories.