Creoles of Color in Louisiana

First-generation European and African or Native American progenitors of Creole of Color families in Louisiana.

Online Resources

• “Free People of Color in Louisiana: Revealing an Unknown Past” - LSU Libraries
• frenchcreoles.com

Print Resources

• Jennifer M. Spear, Race, Sex and Social Order in Early New Orleans, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009
• Elizabeth Shirley Thompson, Exiles at Home: the Struggle to become American in Creole New Orleans, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2009
• Creole. The History and Legacy of Louisiana’s Free People of Color, edited by Sybil Kein, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2000
• Kimberly S. Hanger, Bounded Lives, Bounded Places. Free Black Society in Colonial New Orleans, Durham: Duke University Press, 1997
• Caryn Cossé Bell, Revolution, Romanticism and the Afro-Creole Protest Tradition in Louisiana 1718-1868, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1997
• Laura Foner, “The Free People of Color in Louisiana and St. Domingue: A Comparative Portrait of Two Three-Caste Slave Societies,” Journal of Social History 3 (1970)
• Gwendolyn Midlo Hall, Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth-Century, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1992
• Paul F. Lachance, “The Formation of a Three-Caste Society: Evidence from Wills in Antebellum New Orleans,” Social Science History 18:2 (1994)
• Rodolphe Lucien Desdunes, Our People and Our History: Fifty Creole Portraits, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University, 1973

Common Surnames of People of Color:

Almonester, Alpuente, Alva, Arnaud, Astier, Bacchus, Baure/Borre/Porre, Boisseau, Brion, Brule, Burel, Campanel, Carriere, Cazelar, Cheval, Chouteau, Cienfuegos, Cofi/Coffy, Darensbourg, Dauphin(e), Deco, Decoudreau, Delassixe, Demezieres, Derneville, Despre, Dias, Dolliole, Dupart, Duplessis, Durand, Dutillet, Fazande, Forneret, Fouche(r), Galafate, Faillard, Gallaud, Galvez, Genoveva, Garcin, Glapion, Hardy, Isnard/Hisnard, Heno, Hero, Hugon, Jeaneton, Juanico, Jung, Junon, Labasilier, Lacoste, Lalande, Lanuit, LaPomeret, Labeau/Laveau, Lavolier, Leblanc, Lemelle, Lioutau, Livaudais, Luison, Macarty, Marcon, Maxent, Mallorquin/Mayorquin, Medor, Meilleur, Mercier, Metoyer, Mingo, Montplaisir, Montegut, Montreuil, Mounier, Navarro, Pascal, Pena, Peres, Piernes, Plessis, Pomet, Populus, Prudhomme, Quinones, Raquet, Rami(s), Robin, Roche, Roque, Roquiny, Samba, Santiago, Sarasses, Scarasse, Sepion, Soule, Soulie, Tiocou, Tio, Tisono, Totin, Toutant, Trudeau, Valdez, Vaugine, Venus, Vidal, Villemont, Villere, Vivant, Voisin, Viltz/Wiltz.

Additionally, there were these first names often used as surnames: Alexis, Andre, Bernard, Fanchon, Marcos, Martin(a), Mathieu, Nicolas, Olivier, Raphael, Robert, Simon, Thomas, Xavier.

Common names of Free People of Color:

Many came from St. Domingue in the West Indies: Aleman, Allegre, Amothe/Lamothe, Bachemin, Bagneris, Baillie/Billie, Bajoliere, Baudin, Beaulieau, Beaumond(t), Beaureparie, Bedeau, Bellaire, Bellevue, Beltremieux, Benoit, Bernoudy, Berque, Bertonneau, Bic/Blique, Boise, Bon/Bonne, Bondaille, Boni, Bonseigneur, Boutine, Boutte, Boyer, Cabaret, Cambray, canelle, Caraby, Caresse, Cavalier, Cazenave, Chaigneau, Chretien, Colvis/Clovis, Cornier, Courcelle, Cournand, Couvertier, Croque/Crocker, Cupidon, Dalcour, Dapremont, Daquin, Darcantel, Decourmant, Decuir, Dede/Dedaio, Dege, Dejan, Delatte, Delille, Deruisseau, Desdunes, Deslisle, Deslonde, Destrehan, Dreaux, Drouillard, Dubreauil, Dubuclet, Dumas, Dumois, Duplanchier, Dupuy, Dusuau, Duval, Duvernay, Esteves, Faucheaux, Faure/Favre, Ferrand, Ferrer, Florian, Fondall, Forstall, Fortier, Foy, Fressineau, Freyd, Frilot, Fuselier, Gandolfi, Gignac, Gillette, Glesseau/Gressso, Grmmont, Grandmaion, Gravier, Greffen/Griffin, Guesnon, Guillmard, Guillory, Harang, Hart, Hazeaur, Heguy, Henderson, Hobe/Jove, Houssart, Izard, Jalio, Jason, Jorda, Jordan, Joubert, Jourdain, Juncadella, Juin, Kernion, Kincaid, Lacled, LaCroix, Lafitte, Laforesterie, Lambert, Lamotte/Lamothe, Langlois, Lanna, Lanquille, Lanusse, Laroche, Laronde, Lasalle, Latapie, Larieux, Lavalle, Lavespere, Lavigne, LeClaire, Leclere, Leduc, Lefevre, Legoaster, Lemaitre, LeRoy, Llorens, Lorin, Loriot, Louyar, Lugar, Magliore, Malarcher, Mandeville, Mansion, Manumishon, Marhcand, Marie/Mary, Marmiche, Martinez, Maurin, Mazant, Medard, Menard, Merrieult, Metzinger, Milon, Monsignac, Moreau, Morel, Moret, Morgan, Nelson, Nicaud, Noble, Norwood, Ortis(z), Ory, Othon, Ozee, Panis, Parent, Passebon, Pavegeau, Pedesclaux, Perrault, Peyroux, Picquery, Picot , Piron, Prevost, Prieto, Questi, Re, Rey, Reynaud, Rillieux, Rochon, Roich/Roig, Romain, Roup, Rousseau, Rousselle, Roy, Rouzan, Sabatier, Sainet, Sarasse, Savary, Seligny, Sejour, Senare, Ser/Serre, Sigur, Sindos, Soublet, St. Armand, St. Cyr, St. Denis, St. Julien, St. Martin, St. Ours, St. Victoire, Telemaco, Thezan, Thierry, Tinchant Tonnelier, Toussaint, Treme, Trevigne, Urquhart, Valcour, Valentin(e), Vallet, Valliere, Vernier, Villascusa, Vitrac, Volant, Warbourg, Williams, Zamora, Zeno(n), Zeringue.

Additionally, some first names were commonly used as surnames in this period :
Adolphe, Albert, Armand, Augustin(e), Baptiste, Barthelemy, Benjamin, Celestin(e), Christophe, Etienne, Francois, Guillaume, Henri/Henry, Honore, Hypolite, Isabel, Isidore, Iris, Jacques, Jean, Laurent, Manuel, Narcisse, Noel, Rose, Victor, Vincent.