Arab-Berber Arab-Berber Arab-Berbers (; ) are an ethnic group native to Maghreb, a North African region along the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. Arab-Berbers are people of mixed Berber and Arab origin and whose native language is a variant of Maghrebi Arabic. Many Arab-Berbers identify primarily as Arab and secondarily as Berber. While some Arab-Berbers claim West Asian descent, genetic studies there have determined that Arab and non-Arab Berbers are genetically nearly identical. This suggest that the processes of "Arabization" in the Maghreb was probably mainly cultural rather than genetic. The Arab-Berber identity came into being as a direct result
Names of the Berber people Names of the Berber people The ethnonym Berber dates to the 19th century, derived from "Barbary" the term for the Maghreb coast used during the early modern period, itself from Greek "barbaria" "land of barbarians". The contemporary self-designation current mostly in Morocco is "Imazighen" (singular "Amazigh"). This term is common in Morocco, especially among Central Atlas, Rifian and Shilah speakers in 1980, but elsewhere within the Berber homeland sometimes a local, more particular term, such as Kabyle (Kabyle comes from Arabic: tribal confederation) or Chaoui, is more often used instead in Algeria. The Berber tribal populations of antiquity are known