Tomaschek identified the name as Thracian. D. Detschew notes that the first part of the place name Bolbabrihnoi has the same root and compares the names with the Carian settlement name Βόλβαι and the river name Βολβαιώτης. According to I. Duridanov, the Thracian Βόλβη must have originally been *Balva and is thus shared an identical root with a number of Baltic place and water names (Balvi, Bolva, Болва), derived from Lithuanian and Latvian bala “swamp, marsh, wet soil,” but it was Hellenized early due to its association with the ancient Greek βολβός “onion, bulbous plants.” This is a hypothesis that cannot be confirmed.

Opinions on the Carian names are contradictory. J. Tishler defined the settlement name Βόλβαι as “definitely of Asia Minor origin,” while according to L. Zgusta it is Greek, derived from βολβός. Y. V. Otkupshchikov believed that the parallel between the Thracian and Carian names owes to a common vocabulary. V. Beshevliev classified Βόλβη as a pre-Thracian name because of the o-vocalism. This view is rather extreme.

Both the onomastic parallels and the parallel with the Greek common noun are interesting. The name of the lake in Thrace is undoubtedly of Thracian origin, as its root is also found in the Thracian settlement name Βολβαβρια, attested in the name of the inhabitants Βολβαβριηνοι in an inscription from the village of Shatrovo, Kyustendil region (IGBulg. IV, 2216) and containing the component -βρια – one of the most characteristic for Thracian settlement names. The assumption of lexical affinity between Thracian and Carian names is convincing, as onomastic correspondences between Thrace and Caria are not uncommon. The question as to whether these names are also related to the ancient Greek appellative βολβός remains to be answered. This is also likely. On the one hand, it was a common practice to form toponyms – both water and settlement names – from plant names. At the same time, a pre-Greek origin of βολβός and the appearance of the same appellative in Thracian, is not unlikely. A parallel occurrence of the same word in Thracian and in the pre-Greek substratum on one hand, and in Ancient Greek – on the other, is also possible.