The state owns the word. The word means "made here."

Louisiana owns the word Cajun. This is not a figure of speech. Act 124 of 2006 made "Cajun," "Louisiana Creole" and any derivative or combination of either term certification marks owned by the state, effective June 2, 2006. The commissioner of agriculture enforces them.

One would expect a word held that tightly to mean something exacting. The statute treats it as a brand for products. It does not treat it as the name of a people.

The logo

On January 31, 2018, the Department of Agriculture and Forestry introduced four logos: Certified Louisiana, Certified Cajun, Certified Creole and Certified Farm to Table. The federal Certified Cajun design mark was registered that September as Registration No. 5570255. It certifies that goods were grown, made or processed in Louisiana.

That is the entire test. It asks nothing about Cajun people or Cajun practice. By its terms, a product made in Shreveport is exactly as Cajun as one made in Breaux Bridge.

A culture is a difficult thing to certify. A zip code is not, so the state certified the zip code.

What it earns

Visitors spent $537.1 million in Lafayette Parish in 2022, supporting 5,980 direct jobs and $62.1 million in state and local taxes. St. Landry Parish took in $56.7 million. The state's parish report does not attempt to say how much of any of it the word earned.

Who is counted

In the 2016 to 2020 American Community Survey, 55,022 Louisiana residents reported Cajun ancestry. That is 1.18 percent of 4,664,616 people. The table counts anyone who listed Cajun first or second.

The table has no line for Creole.