Etymology
The city name is derived (via French Alger and Catalan Alger) from the Arabic name الجزائر al-Jazā’ir, which translates as "The Islands", referring to the four islands which lay off the city's coast until becoming part of the mainland in 1525. Al-Jazā’ir is itself a truncated form of the city's older name جزائر بني مزغانة Jaza'ir Bani Mazghana, "The Islands of the Sons of Mazghana", used by early medieval geographers such as al-Idrisi and Yaqut al-Hamawi.
But the very likely assumption is that the name of "Algiers" derives from the name given by Bologhine tribute to his father Ziri (which means Moonlight in Berber), the founder of the Zirid dynasty, when he built the city in 960 on the ruins of the ancient Roman city name Icosium. Algerians perpetuated until today the term Dzair (Ziri deformation name) to designate Algeria and Algiers. Similarly, Algerian designating themselves under the patronage of Dziri and never Djazairi (official term and not popular at all)).
Read more about this topic: Algerine
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