'Balkar' originates from Turkic, specifically the ethnonym 'Balqar' (also spelled 'Balkar' in various sources), where the element is an old tribal/ethnonymic name (exact original sense is uncertain).

The name appears in regional and Russian sources as 'Balqar'/'Balkar' and entered English usage through transliteration of Russian and scholarly accounts of Caucasian peoples.

Initially it designated a particular tribal/ethnic name; over time it has come to denote the people as a whole and, by extension, their language and cultural attributes.