French Creoles | Common First and Last Names

Because the free people of color in New Orleans spoke French and had French ancestors or took the names of French masters, most of their names were derived from that language and culture. During the Spanish period first names were often given a Spanish equivalent; e.g., Jean became known as Juan and Charlotte became Carlota.

Adelaide/Adele, Agata, Aimee, Alexandrine, Angelique, Annette, Antoinette, Apolline, Athalie, Arelia, Babet, Carmelite, Caroline, Catarina, Cecile/Cecilia, Celestine, Charlotte, Clemence, Clementine, Constance, Delia, Delphine, Desiree, Dominique, Elizabeth, Emilie, Estelle, Eugenie, Eulalie, Euprosine, Fanchon, Felicie/Felicite, Francoise, Gabriela, Genevieve, Georgina, Elena/Helene, Heloise,

Henriette, Ines, Isabelle, Isadora, Jeanne/Jeanette, Josephine, Julia, Juliette, Justine, Lisette, Louise(a), Magdalene(a), Manon, Manette/Nanette, Marceline, Marguerite, Marie(a), Marianne, Marthe, Martine, Mathilde, Modeste, Monique, Nathalie, Paulina, Pelagie, Perrine, Philomene, Poupon, Sanite, Serafine, Sophie, Suzanne, Rachel, Rosalie, Rosaline, Rose, Rosette, Teres/Thereze, Virgine, Vistoire, Zelime/Zulime.

(note that many female and male names differ only by a letter or two in spelling):
Adolphe, Alberto, Alcee, Alex, Alexandre, Alexis, Alphonse, Aime, Andre, Antoine, Armand, Auguste/Augustin, Baptiste, Bartholome/Barthelmy, Brazil, Benedicte, Bernard, Celestin, Charles, Charlot, Christophe, Clement, Edouard, Emile, Erasme, Etienne, Eugene,

Ferdinand, Francois, Gabriel, Guillaume, Gustave, Henri, Honore, Hortense, Hypolite, Ignace, Isadore, Jacques, Jean, Joseph, Jules, Julien, Laurent, Leonide, Louis, Manuel, Marcel, Marcos, Martin, Mathieu, Michel, Narcisse, Nicolas, Noel, Olivier, Oscar, Paul/Pauline, Patrice, Pierre, Phillipe, Prosper, Rafael/Raphael, Raimond, Rene, Robert, Simon, Theodore, Theodule, Thomas/Tomas, Valentin(e), Victor, Vincent(e), Virgil, Xavier.

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.

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.

From the 1820's through the Civil War there were free people of color from rural parishes moving into New Orleans. With them came additional French and German surnames. Many English surnames also began to appear as English owned slaves and descendants of American masters migrated to the city.

The above lists are not guaranteed complete. They are merely samples of names that appear repeatedly in records and writings of the period.