First names in Europe and in the Maghreb: A historical overview

Over the past five decades, Maghrebi first names have been increasingly given in Europe. What are the differences between personal names commonly given in Europe and in the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia)? In Europe since the late Middle Ages, anthroponyms include a given name and a hereditary surname. In the Maghreb, this naming system replaced the more complex Berber and Arab tribal names during French colonization . While most Maghrebi first names are of Arabic origin and semantically transparent, in Europe most first names derive from Hebrew, Greek or Latin and thus are semantically opaque. Both regions have names from a sacred text (the New Testament and the Quran) and from religious history (Christian saints and martyrs and relatives and successors of Mohamed), but there are many more secular names in the Maghreb than in Europe. The stocks of personal names of people from Europe and the Maghreb JEAN-FRANOIS MIGNOT remained distinct during the French colonization in the area, and they are still largely unintegrated in present-day France, even among the descendants of Maghrebi immigrants. Among people from the Maghreb, only Jews have been giving Christian first names since the late 19th century.