The form Bezlea was first recorded by Polish historian and theologian Jan Łasicki in his treatise on idolatry De diis Samagitarum caeterorumque Sarmatarum et falsorum Christianorum, written ca. 1582 and published in 1615, while Polish historian Theodor Narbutt referred to her as Bezelea in his work Dzieje starożytne narodu litewskiego, written between 1835 and 1841.
Both forms are Latinizations; the original form, if there ever was one, is lost, however a Lithuanian form has since been reconstructed: Bežlėja.
It has been suggested that Bežlėja might be derived from Lithuanian blista "to darken; to get dark".
Since neither Łasicki nor Narbutt were intimately familiar with Lithuanian culture or language, the academic opinion on the value of their documents ranges from a valuable resource to a practical joke.
Used by JRR Tolkien as the name of a dwarf, Thorin Oakensheild, who is the main dwarf in 'The Hobbit'. Tolkien took the name from the Dvergatal "Catalogue of Dwarves" in the Völuspá, a part of the Poetic Edda.