Algerians requests to change legal names to free themselves of French colonial shackles

Hundreds of Algerians continue to request official name changes each year in an attempt to rid themselves of the last remainders of the French colonial era. 

Algerian authorities receive an average of 600 such petitons, Caliber.Az reports citing the Turkish Aydinlik newspaper. According to their report, French authorities implemented policies during the the colonization of Algeria in the 19th century aimed at assimilating the local Arab population.

In an attempt to sever the historical roots of the indigenous people abd dehumanize them, the French forced them to adopt names derived from animals, parts of the human body, or offensive terms from the Arabic language.

Colonial statisticians often distorted surnames, further severing individuals from their ancestral tribes and families. As a result, members of the same family often ended up with entirely different last names. The goal of these colonial practices was to fragment and subjugate Algerian society, while degrading its people by assigning them such humiliating names.

Some of the names imposed had no meaning at all, while others were nonsensical due to poor transcription from Arabic to French. The issue was exacerbated by a colonial mandate introduced in 1882, which reduced all names in Algeria to just two words, stripping away the richness of traditional Arabic naming conventions that often comprised four or more parts.

The legacy of this policy continues to impact Algerians to this day, prompting many to reclaim their heritage by changing their names and restoring their connection to their cultural and familial roots.

Although Algeria recently celebrated 60 years of independence from France, the violent crimes of the colonial past still trigger diplomatic rifts between the two states. The French government until recently had not been in a rush to acknowledge the scale of crimes and atrocities committed during its colonial rule, which resulted in the killing of several millions of Algerians.

Only last year tensions between Paris and Algiers flared up again when Algeria closed its airspace for French aircraft and recalled its ambassador from Paris following remarks by France's President President Emmanuel Macron. He criticised the way Algerian schoolbooks depicted the French colonial era while visiting the country, complaing, that complained that “official history of Algeria has been rewritten, not based on truths, but based on hatred against France”. 

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev praised Algeria's Moudjahid fighters that fought for the country's independence during French rule during his 2022 visit to the country, where he signed the Book of Remembrance at the museum in Algiers dedicated to the victims of French atrocities. 

By Nazrin Sadigova