[af_vet_1981]

But then one would be misspelling Balaam's name. Correct; I often use an alternative rendering in English because Balaam's makes no linguistic sense to me from the Hebrew, which I might render Bilam and would not be familiar to most on the RF.

The etymology of the name Balaam is uncertain, and several Jewish, and Christian, sources translate it either glutton, or foreigner. The rabbis, playing on the name, call him Belo 'Am, meaning without people, more explicitly meaning that he is without a share with the people in the world to come, or call him Billa' 'Am, meaning one that ruined a people. This deconstruction of his name into B—l Am is supported by many modern biblical critics, which considers his name to simply be derived from Baal Am, a reference to Am, a Baal of Moab.
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[Elsie]

... is supported by many modern biblical critics, ...

bold emphasis mine