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Rabat – The far-right French journalist Eric Zemmour took to Twitter to comment on Morocco’s Civil Registration Law which controls name registrations upon birth.
In a tweet to which Zemmour replied, it stressed, “In Morocco, the choice of last and first name must meet criteria defined by the law governing civil status. Among these criteria, they must have a ‘Moroccan character’ to protect the Moroccan national identity. This is not a racist measure but an assimilationist one.”
Zemmour appeared pleased with the information and quoted the tweet with the caption: “Excellent idea. Long live Morocco and Moroccans!”
Excellente idée. Vive le Maroc et les Marocains ! https://t.co/FC79KT3QzL
— Eric Zemmour (@ZemmourEric) February 10, 2022
On the thread, French netizens said that France should follow Morocco’s step and only allow names that have a French character.
“This was once the case in France and it was a good thing,” one netizen said, while another one pointed out that it is “ultimately similar to what Zemmour wants to do.”
Zemmour, who announced his candidacy in November 2021 for the 2022 presidential elections in France, has promised to ban non-French first names like Mohammed.
The far-right candidate believes that Arab first names and other aspects of Arab culture are making French society less French.
The tweet to which the French political journalist replied was, however, based on Law 37-99 of the Civil Registry, adopted on October 3, 2002. Many changes have been made to the law since then.
Last year, Morocco’s House of Representatives approved a draft law amending the country’s existing Civil Status laws and no longer requires the given name to have a “Moroccan character.”
In the context of birth certificates, Article 34 of the new law stipulates that first names must be “neither a family name, nor a name composed of more than two first names, nor a city, village or tribal name, as it must not be of a nature to harm public morals or public order.”
The article also bans first names that may be the object of mockery.
Meanwhile, titles such as “Moulay,” “Sidi,” or “Lalla” are still banned under the same article.
Unlike the provisions of Law 37.9, to which the tweet was referring, the new reform bill does not impose a first name with a Moroccan character or origin.
