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Although the term "créole" is used mostly by Americans to refer to the French heritage in Louisiana, it is actually a much more global term.
Historically, it has been used in both French and Spanish (criollo) to refer to 'pureblood' Europeans who were born in the New World, although it sometimes also came to mean those who mixed with Africans.
Linguistically, a "creole" is a language that has its roots in two or more languages. Creoles usually start as pidgins used mainly for commerce, and become actual languages once they begin to develop their own grammar rules and have children who speak it as their first language.
Haitian Créole and Louisiana Créole are an *examples* of this, but are most definitely not the only ones - for example, an African-Portuguese Crioulo is spoken in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, West Africa. So be aware that when you use the term "creole", it's not just French, and not just in Louisiana!
Historically, it has been used in both French and Spanish (criollo) to refer to 'pureblood' Europeans who were born in the New World, although it sometimes also came to mean those who mixed with Africans.
Linguistically, a "creole" is a language that has its roots in two or more languages. Creoles usually start as pidgins used mainly for commerce, and become actual languages once they begin to develop their own grammar rules and have children who speak it as their first language.
Haitian Créole and Louisiana Créole are an *examples* of this, but are most definitely not the only ones - for example, an African-Portuguese Crioulo is spoken in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, West Africa. So be aware that when you use the term "creole", it's not just French, and not just in Louisiana!
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I don't know how fruitful your search will be, since Creole is a rather new "tribe"... A lot of French names are used, but the people haven't been around long enough to really develop their own names. Language, sortof, but not names.
Oh! This might be what you are looking for... I do know that the origin of "La" and "Da" names among Black people was in the New Orleans area. French and Spanish were spoken there. Freed Black women with babies fathered by white men who did not acknowledge their illegitimate children often put these words in front of the names of the men. This created a diminutive prefix meaning "of". So that's where we get D'Angelo, LaCharles, and all that... "of Charles"
Eventually, these prefixes lost their meaning and became just a part of names themselves. Some people may still name their child La-name of parent, but mostly I think it's just a meaningless element now.
Does that help you at all?
Michelle
Oh! This might be what you are looking for... I do know that the origin of "La" and "Da" names among Black people was in the New Orleans area. French and Spanish were spoken there. Freed Black women with babies fathered by white men who did not acknowledge their illegitimate children often put these words in front of the names of the men. This created a diminutive prefix meaning "of". So that's where we get D'Angelo, LaCharles, and all that... "of Charles"
Eventually, these prefixes lost their meaning and became just a part of names themselves. Some people may still name their child La-name of parent, but mostly I think it's just a meaningless element now.
Does that help you at all?
Michelle
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I don't know about origin, but these are common Creole names.
Girls:
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
Guys:
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.
Girls:
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
Guys:
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.
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