Thénia

Thénia (sometimes incorrectly written as Thenia), with around 40,000 inhabitants, is the chief town in the daïra of the same name, in the wilaya of Boumerdès, in Kabylie in northern Algeria. The name derives from the Berber phrase Tizi n At Aycha (via the Arabic, Theniet Beni Aicha), which means "the mountain pass of the Aycha tribe"—the prefix "At" means "tribe" in Berber. The steep-sided pass, which is only about 800 metres wide at its narrowest point, marks the transition between the Mitidja and the Grande Kabylie.