Page 166 - South Mississippi Living - December, 2017

COAST’S ETHNIC NAMES
What’s in a name? The Coast’s diverse mixture of family names indicates a rich variety of heritage, traditions and customs that add to the quality of local life.
This plethora of ethnic names reflects the many nationalities who settled here. There are names from France, Italy, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Austria, Ireland, Germany, Vietnam and others. The list is lengthy, but to mention a few family names — Moran, Saucier, Necaise, Ladner, Dedeaux, Dubisson, Pucheu, Lizana, Rosetti, Quave, Cuevas, Bertucci, Boudreaux, Bourgeois, Gilich, Barhanovich, Skrmetta, Kuluz, Dubaz, and Gollot. All have played roles in the history and development of the area.
In 2013, the Slavic Benevolent Association marked 100 years of service to families and the
Story by Lynn Lofton community. Other active groups,
including the French Society and the Hibernia Marching Society, help keep traditions alive.
Coastal areas attract people from other coastal areas who immigrate to work in the seafood industry.
An example is Georgo Trojamovich who came as a teenager to escape Tito’s Communist regime and worked as a dishwasher at Mary Mahoney’s restaurant, learned to cook from a gifted mentor and rose
to be the restaurant’s chef. Twenty years later, he found himself grilling snapper for President Ronald Reagan. “Not bad work, you’d think, for a boy who’d never seen a shrimp until the age of 16,” he said.
The French and Slavonians have proven their staying power. “Like a lot of immigrants they went from being workers and laborers
to being prominent citizens, politicians, lawyers, business owners and doctors, playing important community roles,” said Murella Hebert Powell, Biloxi’s historian emeritus.
Powell says it’s remarkable that although some of these groups who at first couldn’t talk to each other because of language barriers, were soon marrying each other. “Yet, each of these groups has managed to hold on to their own identities. They became a melting pot but they retained that individuality as a people.”
The 1980s saw an influx of immigrants from Vietnam, who also embraced the local seafood industry, and are still writing their chapter
in local history. And most recently, immigrants with Hispanic names are adding to the Coast’s melting pot.
Sources: Biloxi Historical Society, Southern Foodways Alliance and Gulf Coast Lagniappe website
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