Some Cajun surnames are quite distinctive; others resemble surnames found throughout America. Those most easily distinguishable as Cajun are generally Acadian in origin, having come to Louisiana with the Acadians between 1765 and 1785. These surnames include: Allain, Arceneau/Arceneaux, Aucoin, Babin, Babineau/Babineaux, Bellefontaine, Benoit/Benoît, Bergeron, Bernard, Blanchard, Boudreau/Boudreaux, Bourg/Bourque, Bourgeois, Boutin, Brasseaux/Brasseux, Braud/Breau/Breaux, Broussard, Brun, Bujeau, Castille, Chiasson, Comeau/Comeaux, Cormier, Cyr, Daigle, Derouen, David, Doucet, Dugas/Dugat, Dupuis/Dupuy, Foret/Forêt, Gaudet, Gautreau/Gautreaux, Giroir, Godin, Granger, Gravois, Guédry/Guidry, Guilbeau, Hebert/Hébert, Jeansonne, La Bauve/LaBauve, Landry, Langlinais, LeBlanc, Leger, LeJeune, Guidry, Martin, Melancon, Mire, Mouton, Naquin, Orillon, Part, Pellerin, Pitre, Poirier, Prejean/Préjean, Richard, Rivet, Robichaud/Robichaux, Rodrigue, Roger, Roy, Savoie/Savoy, Sonnier/Saunier, Thériot, Thibodeau/Thibodeaux, Trahan, and Vincent. Once in Louisiana, the Acadians began to intermarry with a variety of other ethnic groups on the subtropical frontier. In the process, the Cajuns were formed, and many non-Acadian surnames became Cajun surnames: these include French Creole names like Fontenot, François, Picard, or Soileau; Spanish names like Castille (also an Acadian surname; see above), Romero, Migues/Miguez, and Falcon; German names like Folse, Himel/Hymel, Stelly, and Schexnaider (and its many variations); as well as Anglo and Scotch-Irish names, like McGee, Miller, and Walker. (As Cajun fiddler Dennis McGee once explained, "McGee, that's a French name. I don't know anyone named McGee who doesn't speak French.") A survey of the Lafayette phone directory reveals the ten most common Cajun surnames in that region are (beginning with the most common): Broussard, Hebert, Guidry, LeBlanc, Landry, Trahan, Mouton, Breaux, Boudreaux, and Domingue. (Richard nearly tied with Domingue.) It should be noted, however, that surnames are an unreliable indicator of ethnicity: for example, persons bearing surnames like Bernard, Martin, and Richard could be Cajun or Anglo; similarly, persons named Smith or Johnson might be Cajun through maternal lines; and, finally, persons bearing any of these names might be black or Creole, and therefore non-Cajun.

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