Messiha became a naturalized French citizen at the age of 20,[6] changing his first name to "Jean" in the process.[2] He has described himself as a "naturalized ethnic Frenchman" (French: Français de souche par naturalisation)[3] and "Arab outside, French inside".[3] In February 2017, he was surprised to learn that, in spite of his naturalization, he was still considered an immigrant by the national statistics bureau of France, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques (INSEE).[6]