Heart of Louisiana: Bunkie, La. - What’s in a name?

BUNKIE, La. (WAFB) - The town of Bunkie, Louisiana, has a one-of-a kind name.

There is no other “Bunkie” anywhere in the United States. And there is an interesting story behind how Bunkie got its name.

Like a lot of small rural towns, Bunkie exists mostly because of the railroad. Some of the older residents of Bunkie remember when the passenger train used to stop there.

“And we rode the train and we came back on the train, slept in a pullman car,” said Lynette Clarke, a history enthusiast.

She grew up in Bunkie, retired there, and is a local history buff. You can learn a lot about the early days of Bunkie and the railroad in the Old Depot Museum on Main Street. And Clarke can also tell you how the town got its unique name.

A man named Samuel Haas, who donated land for the railroad, got to name the train stop.

“The Haases had a little girl. Her name was Macci, and when she was a little bitty thing, her daddy brought her a mechanical monkey after one of his trips, and she called it her ‘Bunkie.’ And that became her nickname. He named it ‘Bunkie’ after his little girl,” explained Clarke.

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