Cajun Last Name Generator

Cajun last names from south Louisiana, one surname per entry: Acadian family names like Boudreaux, Thibodeaux and Melancon, prairie names like Fontenot and Soileau, German Coast names like Waguespack and Spanish-origin names like Romero.

About Cajun last names

Cajun last names record who settled south Louisiana. The oldest layer is Acadian: families the British deported from Nova Scotia from 1755 on, who reached Louisiana in the 1760s and again in 1785. Boudreaux, Thibodeaux, Landry, Hebert, LeBlanc, Broussard, Guidry, Trahan and Melancon belong to it. In Canada the same names are written Boudreau, Thibodeau and Comeau. The -eaux ending is a Louisiana habit, and you will also meet -eau, -aux and -ot spellings of one name.

Other names became Cajun by marriage and by neighborhood. Fontenot, Soileau, Fuselier, Guillory and Vidrine came to the prairies with French soldiers and colonists, not from Acadia. German farmers settled the river above New Orleans in the 1720s and French clerks wrote their names down by ear, so Zehringer became Zeringue, Huber became Oubre, Himmel became Hymel and Foltz became Folse. Romero, Segura, Miguez and Viator go back to Spanish settlers of New Iberia.

The list holds 500 surnames, one per entry, without accents, the way most Louisiana families write them today. A variant such as Thibodaux, Gauthreaux or Schexnaydre is its own entry because families carry it. Many of these names are shared with Louisiana Creole families, so a surname alone does not prove Acadian descent.

How to choose Cajun last names

• Let the surname place a character. Fontenot, Soileau and Vidrine point to the prairie around Ville Platte and Mamou, Cheramie, Curole and Gisclair to lower Bayou Lafourche, Waguespack and Zeringue to the river parishes, and Bordelon, Rabalais and Gremillion to Avoyelles.
• Say the name the Louisiana way before you use it. The -eaux ending sounds like a plain "oh", Hebert is "AY-bear", Richard is "REE-shard" and Benoit is "BEN-wah".
• Keep one spelling for one family. Thibodaux and Thibodeaux, or Savoie and Savoy, are the same name by origin, but each household writes it one way and corrects people who get it wrong.
• If you are tracing a family, search every variant. Guidry turns up as Guedry and Guitreau, Theriot as Terrio, and LeBoeuf as LeBouef, all of which are in this list.
• For fiction, mix the layers. A bayou town where a Boudreaux marries a Toups and lives next door to a Romero is closer to real south Louisiana than a cast of -eaux names only.

Frequently asked questions

What are the most common Cajun last names?

Hebert, Landry, Broussard, LeBlanc, Guidry, Fontenot, Richard, Boudreaux, Thibodeaux and Breaux are among the surnames you meet most often in south Louisiana. Most of them are Acadian, and Fontenot is the best known of the prairie French names. All ten are in the list.

Why do so many Cajun last names end in -eaux?

French has several ways to spell the sound "oh", and in Louisiana the -eaux form took hold for many families during the 1800s. That is why the Boudreau, Thibodeau and Comeau of Canada are Boudreaux, Thibodeaux and Comeaux here. A popular story says the x began as the mark of signers who could not write, but that is folklore more than history.

Is every name on this list Acadian?

No. Acadian exile families are the largest group, but the list also has prairie French names such as Guillory and Ardoin, German Coast names such as Schexnayder and Vicknair, Avoyelles names such as Mayeux and Couvillion, and Spanish-origin names such as Segura and Domingue. Many are carried by Louisiana Creole families too, so a surname by itself says little about one person's ancestry.

How did German names like Waguespack become Cajun?

German families farmed the stretch of the Mississippi still called the German Coast from the 1720s, married their French and Acadian neighbors and spoke French within a few generations. Their surnames were respelled by French ears, which gave Waguespack, Tregre, Webre, Toups and Vicknair. Schexnayder alone is carried in several spellings, and Schexnider, Schexnaydre and Schexnaildre are in the list as well.

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All 500 Cajun last names