Bahar, Behar

Derived from the Persian بهار (bahār), meaning “spring,” Bahar is a Persian female name that spread throughout the Persianate world and into neighboring cultures. As a female given name, it is particularly established in Turkey and Azerbaijan. The related obsolete Albanian word Behar entered Albanian through Ottoman Turkish, where it acquired the sense of “spring” or “summer” and is used as a male given name. It was later supplanted by the modern Latin derived Albanian words, pranverë (“spring”) and verë (summer), and now remains a poetic lexeme. In the Bosnian dialect of Serbo-Croatian, behar, likewise borrowed through Ottoman Turkish from Persian, means “blossom,” though it is not traditionally used as a given name.

Behar was the title of an influential Bosniak literary and cultural periodical founded in Sarajevo in 1900; its title referred to the Bosnian word for “blossom.” It was later succeeded by Novi Behar (“New Blossom”).

In Azerbaijan, Bahar is among the Top 100 Most Popular Female Names, it currently ranks in at #60 (2025). In Turkey, it appeared in the Top 100 Female Names between 1981-2020, peaking at #24 in 1993.

A separate Bahar is used as a masculine name in parts of the Muslim world, including South and Southeast Asia as well as some Arabic-speaking countries. It is derived from Arabic بَحْر (baḥr), meaning “sea” or “ocean,” and is unrelated to the Persian feminine name Bahar (بهار), meaning “spring.” The Arabic-derived form is particularly associated with masculine usage. Interestingly enough, baħar is Maltese for “sea,” which has the same ancestor as the Arabic word.

The Hebrew Behar (בְּהַר) is etymologically unrelated. Meaning “on the mountain” or “on the mount,” it is the fifth word and first distinctive word of Parashat Behar, from which the Torah portion takes its name. Behar is the 32nd weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah readings and the ninth portion of Leviticus. It encompasses Leviticus 25:1–26:2 and is generally read in May, either independently or together with the following portion, Bechukotai. The opening verse contains the phrase בְּהַר סִינַי (behar Sinai), “on Mount Sinai.”

Behar, also spelled Bahar, Bakhar and Bekhar, is additionally a common surname among Sephardic Jews, particularly those whose families originated in the former Ottoman Empire. Despite its identical spelling, the surname does not derive from the name of the Torah portion. Historically, Behar was one of the most frequently occurring surnames among Ottoman Jews.

An Albanian feminine form is Behare, a Persian variation is Behareh بهاره, and a Dari version used in Afghanistan is Behara بهاره

Sources

• Beider, Alexander. “Behar: An Enigmatic Jewish Surname.” Revue des Études Juives 182, nos. 1–2 (2023): 195–216. DOI: 10.2143/REJ.182.1.3291732.
• https://www.behindthename.com/name/bahar
• https://www.behindthename.com/name/bahareh
• https://www.behindthename.com/name/behar
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahar_(name)
• https://az.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahar_(ad)
• https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bahar