The dates shown here come from a genealogy of the House of Bëor in volume XI of The History of Middle-earth. Though they fit with the events described in The Silmarillion, they may not therefore be considered fully canonical.

There is an Elvish word baran meaning 'brown', but all our evidence suggests that Baran's name is not Elvish, but instead comes from Taliska, the little-known Mannish tongue used by the Bëorians. Baran's name in his original native language is not therefore directly interpretable.

Baran's father Balan was better known as Bëor the Old. He received the name Bëor, which meant 'vassal' in his own tongue, after he entered the service of Finrod Felagund. According to the source in The History of Middle-earth mentioned above, Bëor's son Baran received the name 'Bëor the Young', which implies that he followed his father and also became a vassal of the Eldar.