Bonified

So you think you’re a Cajun!
OK, so you were born and raised in South Louisiana. You eat crawfish and hunt alligators.
You can pronounce boudin, courtboullion and Atchafalaya, no sweat.  You have what those other people think is a funny accent.  I hate to be the one to bust your balloon, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you are a true, bonafide, card-carrying Cajun.

Relaxing at the 19th Hole recently, my old golf partner Paul Allen Bernard and I were lamenting the fact that things just ain’t like they used to be.  He knows that much better than I – he’s a Cajun, I’m not. However, having moved into Cajun Country nigh on to 40 years ago, and being quickly converted, I can remember what it was then and what it ain’t today.

OH SURE, CAJUN is as hot as Tabasco sauce right now.  It’s “in” to be a Cajun, and a lot of people are going around saying they are and even believing it.

Says Mr. B: “When I was young nobody bragged about being a Cajun. And to accuse someone of being of that origin was an invitation to fight. And, although we could hardly speak English, we were absolutely forbidden to speak French on the school grounds.”

Says me: “Yeah, one of the first things my editor told me in Crowley back in 1949 was, ‘Son, these people around here are ACADIANS, and unless you want that long hillbilly nose sticking out of your ear you don’t even utter the word Cajun.’ And every where I went people spoke French, especially in the bars and restaurants.”

Says Mr. B: “But, time changes all. Nowadays things Cajun, such as our food, has boosted our image to the
extent that our people now own up, and even brag, about being of that ancestory.”
Says me: “Yeah, except on Saint Patrick’s Day. Then they’re all Irish.” He ignored that.
Says Mr. B: “…and, too late, CODOFIL is now trying to revive the French language and this task is impossible without parental influence and this ingredient is no longer an asset…. (he talks like that on the 19th Hole) … there is no French spoken in today’s homes.” WARMING UP, my Cajun friend got to one of his favorite topics – the origin of names. He spends weeks pouring through stacks of books and mounds of musty records tracing names commonly found in Ma Bell’s South Louisiana phone directories. So he can be considered somewhat of an authority on the subject. I ordered another cold one and turned him loose. “All this popularity despite the very low percentage of authentic Acadian names in our area. There is no doubt there’s a bit of Acadian blood in nearly all our people of Spanish and French ancestry, but the Acadian family name is getting to be rare.
“About 8 percent of Loureauville family names are of Acadian heritage, and of the total family names in the St. Martinville area, only 8.3 percent are actually cajun. In Jeanerette it’s at 5 percent – and poor New Iberia dives to 3.2 percent.

“Just think, out of about 2,500 family names here, only 80 are authentic Acadian. There are only 52 in St.
Matinville, 34 in Loureauville, and 37 in Jeanerette.” (You can argue with him, I’m not.
With the name Bandy, I’m not claiming anything.)

“THE CAJUNS HAVE come a long way, all the way from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia by way of Ohio and
Mississippi rivers, and from detours through France and the Caribbean Islands. All of a sudden, it’s a great privilege to be a Cajun … and deservedly so.”

A few days after our club house discussion, Bernard dropped by the office with a list of names which he
swears are the only true, bonafide Acadian family names still not diluted by the English, Dutch, German, Spanish – and hillbilly – immigrants to Cajun Country. He says (not me) that if you aren’t on this list you’d better check your ancestry before you do any more bragging:

Allain, Arsenault (Arceneaux),
Aucoin, Bain, Babineaux, Barilleaux,
Baudoin, Beaulieu, Beliveau,
Bergeron, Bernard, Berthelot,
Bertrand, Blanchard, Boucher,
Boudreaux, Bourg (Bourque),
Bourgeois, Brasseux (Brasseaux),
Braud (Breaux), Broussard, Brun,

Cailler (Callier), Champagne,
Chaisson (Chiasson), Chauvin,
Collesson (Colson), Comeaux,
Cormier, Corpon, Couson (Coussan),
Daigre (Daigle), Darbonne, Dorian
(Doiron), Doucet, Dubois, Dugas,
Dupont, Dupuis, Duval (Huval),
Entremont, Foret, Gareau, Gaudet

Gaudin, Gatherau, Gauthier,
Girourard (Giroir), Godeau, Granger
(English), Guerin, Guidry (Guitry),
Guilbeau, Hebert, Henry, Herpin,
Joffrion, Labat, Labauve, LaFrance,
Lagneau, Lalande, Laliberte,
Lambert, Landry, Langlois

Lanoue, Latour, LeBlanc, Lajeune,
Leonard, Marceau, Martin, Melancon
(Scotch), Mercier, Morin, Motin,
Mouton, Pellerin, Peltier (Pelletier),
Picard, Picot, Pitre (Peters), Poirier,
Potier, Prejean, Primeau, Raymond,
Richard, Rivet, Robichon
(Robicheaud)

Sire, Simon, Sonnier, Theriot,
Thibaud, Thibodeau (Thibodeaux),
Trahand (Trahan), Vignaud
(Vigneau) and Vincent.

If you aren’t on the list, do not be
downhearted – being Cajun can be a
state of mind.

Fred Bandy