The Acadians were the French who settled in the areas now known as the Canadian Maritimes, in other words, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, the Magdalen Islands of Quebec, and Prince Edward Island, in Canada, Miquelon, and the eastern portion of Maine. These settlements preceded those of the British in North America by two or three years, and grew during the next century in both cultivated farmland and vast progeny of descendants.

In 1755, when the British government confiscated their lands, property, and virtually all they had, they deported the Acadians who would not swear loyalty to the British Crown and protestant religion. Thousands were sent to the 13 colonies on the American seaboard. In this mass deportation, mothers were separated from fathers, and children from both.

The Acadians had turned the wilderness of Nova Scotia into productive lands and had become a prosperous people. The year 1755 is an infamous date in Acadian history; it is the date when the Acadians lost most of what they had worked for, most of what they had created. And this event has remained an indelible mark in the minds and hearts of Acadians everywhere.

The land mass described above, plus much more, was under French rule until the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) surrendered this vast land holding into the control of the English. Naturally, the English would have preferred to have the French settlers swear allegiance to the British crown; however, the Acadian-French settlers refused, agreeing to pledge neutrality in England's conflict with France. They could not envision themselves bearing arms against their French compatriots if a war were to break out. The Acadians lived under this neutrality agreement for about fifty years until the British decided to remove them in September of 1755.

This infamous Deportation (Le Grand Dérangement), ordered by Governor Lawrence of Nova Scotia, dispersed the Acadians far and wide. Those who fled to the woods found refuge and help from the Micmac Indians, who aided them in either escaping to Quebec Province or resettling after the war. Many died of cold and starvation while on journey to Quebec; others, of disease once they arrived. Still other Acadians were loaded onto overcrowded transport ships, to be put ashore in the English colonies or sent back to English prisons or to France. Some of these ships never made it back to Europe, but were wrecked in storms crossing the Atlantic, resulting in tremendous loss of life for those aboard these transports. In the American colonies, inhumane separation of families, and dependence upon the local towns and cities for support, were bitter pills to swallow by a group of people who prided themselves on strong family bonds and a life of self-sufficiency. Many of them endured a dozen or so years of unbelievable hardships in effort to reunite with their families, some even trekking the long journey back to return to the land they once occupied in the Maritimes. This dark moment in history was the inspiration for the story and poem of Evangeline by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, which was loosely based on the plight of René LeBlanc and Marguerite Bourgeois.

With this brief history of the Acadians, how can one tell if he or she is an Acadian descendant? Here is a partial list of some of the most common Acadian surnames to get you started. As with ALL names, some have experienced changes in spelling, anglicization, and usage over the years. These are the original surnames of our earliest Acadian ancestral families:

ALLAIN, AMIRAULT, ARSENAULT, AUCOIN, BABIN, BABINEAU, BASTARCHE, BELLIVEAU, BENOIT, BERGERON, BERNARD, BLANCHARD, BLAQUIERE, BONNEVIE, BOUCHER, BOUDREAU, BOURGEOIS, BOURQUE, BRAULT, BRIAND, BROUSSARD, BRUN, CAISSIE, CHIASSON, COMEAU, CORMIER, COSTE, CYR, D'ENTREMONT, DAIGLE, DECOSTE, DEVAUX (DEVEAU), DOIRON, DOUCET, DUGAS, DUPUIS, FOREST, FOUGERE (FRAZIER, GALLANT, GAUDET, GAUTREAU, GIROUARD (GERRIOR, GIROIR), GODIN, GRANGER, GUEDRY, GUERIN, GUILBEAU, HACHE, HEBERT, HENRI, LANDRY, LANOUE, LAPIERRE, LEBLANC (WHITE), LEGER (LEGERE), LEJEUNE, LONGUEPEE, MAILLET, MARCHAND, MARTIN, MELANSON, MIUS (MUISE & MEUSE), MICHEL, PELLERIN, PETITPAS, PINEAU, PITRE, POIRIER, POTHIER, PREJEAN, RENAUD, RICHARD, ROBICHAUD, ROY, SAULNIER, SAVOIE, SURETTE, THERIAULT, THIBAULT, THIBODEAU, TRAHAN, VIGNEAU, VINCENT.

To this list can be added many other surnames of those French, Irish or Canadian families who settled in the various Acadian districts, and became members of the Acadian community "by association" or through marriage into these various families, for example: BUJOLD, CAMUS, COTTREAU, DELANEY, DERASPE, DESLAURIERS, HUBERT, HUET, HUREAU, LANGLOIS, LAVACHE, LAVANDIER (LEVANGIE), MALLET, MARTEL, MOMBOURQUETTE, NADEAU, PAINCHAUD, PATE, PELLETIER, ROACH, SAMSON, VAUTOUR, and so forth.

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