Louisiana Creole People - Pointe Coupee Creoles

Pointe Coupee Creoles

Another historic area to Louisiana is Pointe Coupee, an area west of Baton Rouge. This area is known for the False River; the parish seat is New Roads, and other villages such as Morganza are located off the river. This parish is known to be uniquely Creole; today a large portion of the nearly 22,000 residents can trace Creole ancestry. The area was valuable for its many plantations during the French, Spanish, and American colonial periods. The population here had become bilingual or even trilingual with French, Louisiana Creole, and English because of its plantation business before most of Louisiana. The Louisiana Creole language is widely associated with this parish; the local French, Creole, and Spanish plantation owners and their African slaves formed it as communication language, which became the primary language for many Pointe Coupee residents well into the 20th century. The local white and black populations spoke the language, because of its importance to the region; even Italian immigrants in the 20th century often adopted the language.

Common Creole family names of the region include the following: Battley, Parker, Guerin, Bridgewater, Decuir, Gremillion, Roberson, Christophe, Joseph, Part, Major, Valéry, Robert, Ramirez, Castillo, Olivier, Fontenot, Francois, Aguillard, Duperon, Gaspard, St. Armand, Domingue, Patin, Chenevert, Savoir, Gaines, Fabre and dozens more.