Curious names are popular along the bayous. Some that graced heroic characters of Greece are hereditary among the Cajuns. Hundreds of males titled Achille, Ulysse, Alcide and Télémaque now row pirogues through Louisiana waterways. There is a penchant for nicknames. Even animals have them. Every cat is “Minou,” and every child is given some diminutive of his name. It is perfectly safe to say that no group of Cajuns ever assembled without a Doucette, a Bébé, a Bootsy or a Tooti among them. At one school a family of seven children, named Thérèse, Marie, Odette, Lionel, Sebastian, Raoul, and Laurie, were known even to their teachers as Ti-ti, Rie, Dette, Tank, Bos, Mannie and La-la. It is said that every Cajun family has a member known as “Coon.” Other families, like the Polites, give their offspring names that all start with the same letter. An “E” family might be, respectively, Ernest, Eugénie, Euphémie, Enzie, Earl, Elfert, Eulalie and Eupholyte.
However, there are comparatively few family names. There are literally thousands of Landrys, Broussards, Leblancs, Bourgeoises and Breaux, these being the largest families of Acadian descent in the state.
—Lyle Saxon (1891-1946) in Gumbo Ya-Ya (pub. 1945)