According to Strabo they were one of the many Thracian tribes that had crossed from Europe into Asia,[1] although modern scholars have rather argued for a Celtic origin.
[6][7] B. Sergent suggests that the name Bebryces could be related to the Celtic tribes Bebruces, living in the Pyrenees, and Briboci, dwelling in Britain,[8] all ultimately stemming from Proto-Celtic *brebu ('beaver'; see Gaulish bebros, bebrus, Old Irish Bibar, 'beaver').
[2][9] Ivan Duridanov also suggested that the ethnonym was related to Indo-European words meaning "beaver".
[10] The same word denotes beaver in Slavic Languages (*bebrus in Proto-Balto-Slavic, bober in Slovenian, bobar in Bulgarian, bobr in Russian).
Bebryce is possibly the same as Bryce, a daughter of Danaus, a mythical King of Libya and Arabia (Apollodorus).