Bunkie, Louisiana: A Daughter's Nickname on the Depot
Bunkie, Louisiana, used to be Irion, until a landowner called Capt. Haas renamed it for his little daughter in 1882. Where the word “Bunkie” itself came from is a family story, and it’s been told more than one way.
Irion becomes Bunkie
The oldest account found for this article is short. Alcée Fortier’s Louisiana, a 1914 reference work that runs town by town, says Bunkie, “formerly known as Irion,” sits on the Texas & Pacific Railroad in the southwestern part of Avoyelles Parish. “The first house was built in 1882, when the town was named by Capt. Haas after his little daughter.” The first post office came in 1883, and the first record of the town council is dated April 14, 1885.
Notice what Fortier doesn’t say. He gives no first name for Haas, no name for the girl and nothing about what “Bunkie” means. Everything else in this story comes from later tellings.
The toy monkey
Union Pacific tells the fuller version on its own railroad-town page. In 1882, it says, the Texas and Pacific was “seeking the right of way across Haas’ land,” and the landowner was “Captain Samuel Haas, who had been active in the Civil War.” Then comes the part everyone remembers: “Legend has it that the Captain, returning from a trip to New Orleans, brought his small daughter a toy monkey.” In the railroad’s telling, the girl mispronounced “monkey,” the nickname stuck, and “Capt. Haas suggested his daughter’s nickname, naming the depot and the town.”
The railroad calls it a legend, and you should too. Other books change the details. Allan Carpenter’s Louisiana (1978) gives the founder as Colonel A. M. Haas and the toy as a mechanical monkey. Ellen C. Merrill’s Germans of Louisiana (2005) also names A. M. Haas, calls him a German planter and names the girl Mary Mackie Haas. Those two books were read here only as short search excerpts.
Who was the captain?
So you’ve got one name on the map and two first names for the man behind it. Union Pacific says Samuel. Carpenter and Merrill say A. M. Fortier, the oldest of the four, just says “Capt. Haas.” None of them shows the deed or the railroad’s paperwork, so this article doesn’t pick one. What they share is a little girl in the Haas family: Fortier says the town was named after her, and the later tellings tie the word to her toy monkey.
Quick answers
What was Bunkie, Louisiana, called before?
Irion. Fortier’s Louisiana (1914) says the town was “formerly known as Irion” before Capt. Haas renamed it in 1882.
Is Bunkie named after a monkey?
Not exactly. Union Pacific says “legend has it” that the name was a little girl’s nickname, which came from a toy monkey her father brought her from New Orleans. The oldest account only says the town was named for Haas’s little daughter.
Was it Samuel Haas or A. M. Haas?
The sources don’t agree. Union Pacific names Captain Samuel Haas, while Carpenter (1978) and Merrill (2005) name A. M. Haas, and Fortier (1914) gives no first name.
Key dates
- 1882The first house goes up and Capt. Haas names the town for his little daughter.
- 1883The first post office opens.
- 1885April 14: the date of the town council's first record.
Getting there
Open Bunkie in Google Maps
Opens in a new tab. The pin is the center of Bunkie in the USGS place-name record.
The closest airports, Amtrak stations and intercity bus stops, measured in a straight line from the center of Bunkie.
Airports
- Alexandria International (AEX) 34 mi 54 km
- Lafayette Regional/Paul Fournet Field (LFT) 53 mi 85 km
- Louis Armstrong New Orleans International (MSY) Kenner 132 mi 213 km
Amtrak trains
- Lafayette station (LFT) 51 mi 82 km
- New Iberia station (NIB) 69 mi 111 km
Intercity buses
- Greyhound Opelousas Texaco 27 mi 43 km
- Delta Bus Lines Inc. Saint Francisville 49 mi 78 km
- FlixBus Lafayette La 49 mi 79 km
Distances are as the crow flies, not by road. We don't list schedules or fares because they change; check with the airline, Amtrak or the bus company before you go. Official data (FAA commercial service airports (2025), FAA airport locations, Amtrak stations and Intercity Bus Atlas) from the FAA and the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, checked Nov 6, 2026.
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Historical Sources & References
- Alcée Fortier, ed., Louisiana, vol. 1 (1914), p. 134. Bunkie “formerly known as Irion,” on the Texas & Pacific; “the town was named by Capt. Haas after his little daughter” in 1882; post office in 1883; first council record of April 14, 1885.
- Union Pacific, “Bunkie, Louisiana”. The railroad’s own telling: Captain Samuel Haas, the 1882 right of way and the “legend” of the toy monkey.
- Ellen C. Merrill, Germans of Louisiana (2005). The toy monkey of Mary Mackie Haas, daughter of A. M. Haas. Read as a short search excerpt.
- Allan Carpenter, Louisiana (1978). Colonel A. M. Haas and a toy mechanical monkey. Read as a short search excerpt.
- GNIS feature 553834 (U.S. Geological Survey). The government’s place-name record for Bunkie, in Avoyelles Parish.
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