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According to a forum on ezboards.com, which is actually pretty convincing, some are saying that Balša I is a Serb and some are saying, he is an Albanian. I believe he's Albanian because of his name. The name Balša sounds Albanian to me and not Serbian or Slavic, even though Balša I can read and write in Serbian, fought Albanians, and made alliances with Serbs. CrnaGora | Talk 07:00, 18 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Actually - that is a Vlach name and the family is among the serbianized vlachs. The wholesome Montenegrin population is made of Serbs and greatly serbianized Vlachs (and Albanians, to an extent). --HolyRomanEmperor 16:29, 25 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]
If he was Albanian as you say,why would he name his two sons by Serbian names? Djuradj and Stracimir are clearly Serbian (Djuradj-Djordje-George for example,Stracimir can also be Bulgarian so let's say it is slavic anyway).Another argument I intend to use abot name Balsha doesn't sound Serbian is that many names in middle ages doesn't sounf even slavic;take Jovan Oliver for example,Serbian noble from period of Emperor Dushan.Oliver means nothing in Serbian (it cane in Serbia through literature), yet Oliver was of Serbian origin.The fact is that names were spread as culture and were incorporated into life of people of that time,as well as it is today. --Vizantinac 10:27, 24 July 2007 (UTC)
Funny how you come up with an argument that he must be serb because his son's had serb names and in the following paragraph you counter argument yourself. Fact of the matter is that Balsha does not sound Slavic at all. How his sons were named means nothing. Gjon Kastriotis sons were also named Reposh, Stanisha, Gjergj and so forth yet they were all albanian. Even today I know macedonians who have albanian names, like ZANA, (just because their parents liked the name) but they are not albanian. And as you pointed out yourself Oliver was also not a Britton. There is a famous family in Albania with the last name Strazimiri, which claims to be a direct descendant from Strazimir Balsha I. They even own a 600 year old ring bearing his coat of arms. Maybe that would help you decipher things a bit. On the other hand I would like to know what are the connections between the Balsha dynasty and the ancient city of BALSH in Albania? -- just a visitor 212.64.67.215 (talk) 12:49, 21 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Balsa would come, according to Serbian name-shortening tradition, from Baltazar. Nikola -> Niksa, Milos/Milomir -> Misa, thus the Catholic-Serb name "Baltazar" (a la Baltazar Bogisic) was shortened to the nickname "Balsa". Albanians attempting to claim a medieval lord who spoke Serbian, fought for Serbian interests and began a dynasty that went on to defend Serbian Orthodoxy in Montenegro is peculiar and can only speak to a possible lack of Albanian historical figures. Critikal1 (talk) 03:37, 1 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
CrnaGora | Talk 07:00, 18 March 2006 (UTC)