Morocco bans unIslamic names in Netherlands
The government of Morocco has forbidden unIslamic names for children born to Moroccans living in the Netherlands. Specifically, Berber names may not be used because they are said to conflict with Islamic identity.
By far the biggest group of Moroccans in the Netherlands are of Berber origin, a region in the mountainous north of Morocco. “They will now be forced to give their children a Moroccan-Islamic name,” according to Trouw [newspaper]. “Morocco wants to secure the Moroccan identity of its nationals in this way, including the Moroccan Dutch.”
The Moroccan government in Rabat sent all embassies and consulates abroad a list of banned name this week. Christian names were already forbidden. “We forbid Berber names because they conflict with the identity and because they open the door to the spread of meaningless names,” said Idris Bajdi, a top official in Morocco, in the newspaper.
Berber names are “meaningless”? That’s rather harsh.
Aren’t Berbers the original inhabitants of Morocco?
h/t: EuropeNews
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