Berber calendar have begun computing the years starting from 950 BC, the approximate date of the rising into power of the first Libyan Pharaoh in Egypt, Shoshenq I, whom they identified as the first prominent Berber in history (he is recorded as being of Libyan origin). For example, the Gregorian year corresponds to the year of the Berber calendar. This innovation has been adopted with conviction by many supporters of the Berber culture and is now a part of the cultural heritage of this people, fully integrated in the system of traditional customs related the North-African calendar. Berber calendar The Berber calendar
Names of the Berber people as Numidians and later as Mauri in classical antiquity. These are umbrella terms that would include populations whose self-designation was a variety of tribal names, although Strabo asserts that "Mauri" was also used indigenously. The "Libu" of ancient Egyptian sources, eponymous of the name "Libya" may also have been an early Berber or Proto-Berber population. The term "Berber" is a variation of the Greek original word "barbaros" ("barbarian"), earlier in history applied by Romans specifically to their northern hostile neighbors from Germania (modern Germany) and Celts, Iberians, Gauls, Goths and Thracians. The variation is a French one when spelled "Berbère"