where the name comes from

I saw a mail in my spam folder from Alstom and after diligently deleting it, I googled it up and found its some French company in energy solutions, blah blah.. 

But what stuck me was there is Alstom and then there is Alcatel, both from France. What does 'al' mean so much to the French? Some rounds of wiki searches led me to the conclusion.

Alcatel (originally short for the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Atomiques, de Télécommunications et d'Électronique)

Alstom (originally as Alsthom) was formed from a merger between Compagnie Française Thomson Houston and the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques

Now, Alsacienne points to the industrial region of Alsace in France bordering Germany that was very popular for being in the the treaty of Versailles and subsequent tensions that led to the second world war. 

The industrial conglomerates of those days have come a long way, playing significant part in the industrial transformations world over. Good to know! :)

Now that one chapter is over, I wonder what "Al" means in the middle east beyond the obvious ...