ROOTS TO OUR FAMILY NAME BALTZ

Baltz is an English "sound alike" for Bals, Balls, Balles, Balts. It's how our immigrant forefathers names sounded to the people who signed them into their new country. From Baltazar, the name origins are Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch, Polish, Czech, Slovak, and Hungarian The name is from the Biblical names of Balthazar and Belshazzar, or in Aramaic, Balshatzar, or Babylonian "Baal-tas-assar", meaning: "may Baal preserve his life: or Bal-shar-uzzur, "may Baal protect the king". The Chaldean king that Daniel interpreted the writing on the wall in Daniel 5, in the Bible, had this last name. Also, according to legend, Baltazar was the name of one of the three Magi from the East who attended Christ's birth. Relics from this time were displayed on Milan, until 1164. For those interested in further historical information, I would strongly reccommend 'Wikipedia.com' and their articles under Germany, France, and the Holy Roman Empire. Also interesting is the same site with information on Alsace-Lorraine, France. This information explains alot why it is so difficult to find records on our ancestors. Also, why we may have started out in Alsace-Lorraine which borders western Germany and Belgium.