Moroccan authorities restrict use of Berber names

A group of Moroccan human rights organisations have denounced the authorities’ restrictions on giving Amazigh, or Berber, names to children.

In an open letter to the Moroccan Prime Minister, Saadeddine Othmani, the National Federation of Amazigh Associations in Morocco (NAMA) condemned the move which comes in spite of the fact that the Amazigh language was officially recognised by the 2011 constitution.

The group said that it had documented 45 incidents in which the authorities had refused to register newborn babies under an Amazigh name.

According to the letter, municipal authorities in the city of Casablanca refused on Tuesday to register a newborn baby boy under the Amazigh name “Massin” and demanded his parents bring an official letter that the name is not prohibited by the civil status regulations.

Read: The politics of being Berber

In their letter, the associations demanded an end to such restrictions.