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List of French people
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French people of note include:
Contents
1 Actors
1.1 A–C
1.2 D–L
1.3 M–Z
2 Architects
3 Artists
3.1 Painters
3.2 Photographers
3.3 Sculptors
4 Athletes
4.1 A–J
4.2 K–Z
5 Authors
5.1 A–E
5.2 F–O
5.3 P–Z
6 Aviators
7 Business
8 Chefs
9 Colonial administrators
10 Composers
11 Craftspeople and inventors
12 Criminals
13 Dancers
14 Economists
15 Fashion
16 Fictional characters
17 Filmmakers
18 Humorists
19 Military leaders
20 Monarchs and royals
21 Musicians
21.1 A–J
21.2 K–Z
22 Philosophers
23 Politicians
24 Popes
25 Resistance workers
26 Scientists
27 Social activists
28 Soldiers
29 Theologians
30 Others
31 See also
32 References
Actors[edit]
Main article: List of French actors
A–C[edit]
Isabelle Adjani
Renée Adorée
Anouk Aimée
Flo Ankah
Arletty
Antonin Artaud
Fanny Ardant
Jeanne Aubert
Jean-Louis Aubert
Jean-Pierre Aumont
Claude Autant-Lara
Daniel Auteuil
Charles Aznavour
Brigitte Bardot
Emmanuelle Béart
Loleh Bellon
Jean-Paul Belmondo
François Berléand
Charles Berling
Suzanne Bianchetti
Juliette Binoche
Bernard Blier
Sandrine Bonnaire
Élodie Bouchez
Bourvil
Dany Boon
Angelique Boyer
Charles Boyer
Guillaume Canet
Capucine
Martine Carol
Leslie Caron
Isabelle Carré
Vincent Cassel
Jean-Pierre Cassel
Laetitia Casta
Robert Clary
Grégoire Colin
Marion Cotillard
Clotilde Courau
Darry Cowl
D–L[edit]
Béatrice Dalle
Lili Damita
Danielle Darrieux
Alain Delon
Danièle Delorme
Julie Delpy
Catherine Deneuve
Élisabeth Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Guillaume Depardieu
Patrick Dewaere
Arielle Dombasle
Michel Drucker
Morgane Dubled
Jean Dujardin
Anny Dupérey
Romain Duris
Nicolas Duvauchelle
Fernandel
Brigitte Fossey
Louis de Funès
Félicité Du Jeu
Jean Gabin
Julie Gayet
Annie Girardot
Judith Godrèche
Eva Green
Sacha Guitry
Isabelle Huppert
Irène Jacob
Claude Jade
Marlène Jobert
Valérie Kaprisky
Mélanie Laurent
Jean-Pierre Léaud
Virginie Ledoyen
Noémie Lenoir
Max Linder
Sheryfa Luna
M–Z[edit]
Marcel Marceau
Sophie Marceau
Jean Marais
Jean-Pierre Marielle
Olivier Martinez
Jean-Baptiste Maunier
Bernard Minet
Miou-Miou
Mistinguett
Yves Montand
Jeanne Moreau
Michèle Morgan
Musidora
Pierre Niney
Gérard Philipe
Michel Piccoli
Clémence Poésy
Alexia Portal
Yvonne Printemps
Pérette Pradier
Jérôme Pradon
Rachel (actress) pseudonym for Elisa-Rachel Félix
Gabrielle Réjane
Jean Reno
Marine Renoir
Pierre Richard
Sebastian Roché
Jean Rochefort
Béatrice Romand
Philippine de Rothschild
Nathalie Roussel
Michel Roux
Emmanuelle Seigner
David Serero
Léa Seydoux
Delphine Seyrig
Simone Signoret
Audrey Tautou
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Marie Trintignant
Gaspard Ulliel
Michael Vartan
Hervé Villechaize
Lambert Wilson
Architects[edit]
Main article: List of French architects
Jacques-François Blondel
Germain Boffrand
Étienne-Louis Boullée
Salomon de Brosse
Libéral Bruant
Androuet du Cerceau family
Le Corbusier pseudonym for Charles Edouard Jeanneret (Swiss-born)
Philibert de l'Orme
Gustave Eiffel
Pierre François Léonard Fontaine
Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Charles Garnier
Tony Garnier
Hector Guimard
Villard de Honnecourt
Pierre Jeanneret (Swiss-born)
Henri Labrouste
Claude Nicolas Ledoux
Pierre Lescot
André Lurçat
Robert Mallet-Stevens
François Mansart
Jules Hardouin Mansart
Louis Métezeau
Michel Mimran (born 1954)
Jean Nouvel
Charles Percier
Claude Perrault
Dominique Perrault
Auguste Perret
Christian de Portzamparc
Jean Prouvé
Alain Provost
Henri Sauvage
Jacques-Germain Soufflot
Louis Le Vau
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
Artists[edit]
Auguste Rodin
Main article: List of French artists
Painters[edit]
Main article: List of French painters
Photographers[edit]
Main article: List of French photographers
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Brassaï born in Hungary
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Raymond Depardon
Robert Doisneau
Pierre Dubreuil
Jules Gervais-Courtellemont
Nadar
Willy Ronis
Sculptors[edit]
Frédéric Bartholdi
Antoine Bourdelle
Antonin Carlès
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
César
Antoine-Denis Chaudet
Camille Claudel
Paul Dubois
Raymond Duchamp-Villon
Alexandre Falguière
Jean-Antoine Houdon
René Iché
Antonin Idrac
Antonin Mercié
Hippolyte Moulin
Émile Louis Picault
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle
Antoine-Augustin Préault
Auguste Rodin
François Rude
Niki de Saint Phalle
Sacha Sosno
Athletes[edit]
Main articles: List of French sportspeople and Category:French athletes
A–J[edit]
André the Giant
Sarah Abitbol
Jessica Fox
André the Giant, professional wrestler
Sarah Abitbol, pairs figure skater (with Stéphane Bernadis); World Figure Skating Championship bronze[1]
Tariq Abdul-Wahad (born Olivier Saint-Jean), basketball player
Luc Alphand, Alpine skier
Jacques Anquetil, cyclist
Jonathan Assous, France/Israel, defensive midfielder (Beitar Ramat Gan)[2]
Fabien Barthez, football player
Elliot Benchetrit, tennis player
Brice Blanc, jockey
Marion Bartoli, tennis player
Fabrice Benichou, world-champion super bantamweight boxer
Stéphane Bernadis, pairs figure skater (with Sarah Abitbol)
Alain Bernard, Olympic swimmer
Serge Betsen, Cameroon-born French citizen, rugby player
Serge Blanco, Venezuela-born French citizen, rugby player
Jean Bloch, Olympic silver football player
Louison Bobet, cyclist
Surya Bonaly, figure skater
Sébastien Bourdais, Indycar driver
Frédéric Bourdillon (born 1991), French-Israeli basketball player in the Israel Basketball Premier League
Andrée Brunet and Pierre Brunet, 1928 and 1932 Olympic skating gold medalists
Alain Calmat, figure skater, Olympic silver, world championship gold, silver, two-time bronze
Philippe Candeloro, figure skater
Eric Cantona, football player
Georges Carpentier, world-champion boxer
Marcel Cerdan, world-champion boxer
François Cevert (born François Goldenberg), Formula One driver
Eugène Christophe, cyclist
Albert Clément (c. 1878–1907), motor racing driver
Robert Cohen, world-champion bantamweight boxer
Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro, tennis player
Eugène Criqui, world-champion boxer
Jean Cruguet, jockey of Seattle Slew
Richard Dacoury, basketball player
Pierre Darmon, tennis player, highest world ranking # 8
André Darrigade, cyclist
Mathieu Debuchy, football player
Émile Delahaye, race car pioneer
Marcel Desailly, Ghana-born French citizen, football player
Abou Diaby, football player
Boris Diaw, basketball player
David Douillet, judoka
Yves Dreyfus, épée fencer, Olympic bronze medal, French champion
Isabelle Duchesnay and Paul Duchesnay, ice dancers
Alojzy Ehrlich, Poland, table tennis, 3x won silver and 1x won bronze in the World Championships, incarcerated by the Nazis in Auschwitz, represented France after 1945.
Andre Ethier, Major League Baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Patrice Evra, football player for Monaco and Manchester United
André Fabre, horse trainer
Evan Fournier, basketball player
Laurent Fignon, cyclist
Jeremy Flores, surfer
Just Fontaine, football player
Jacques Fouroux, rugby union player and coach
Jessica Fox (born 1994), French-born Australian, slalom canoer, Olympic silver (K-1 slalom), world championships bronze (C-1)[3]
Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, slalom canoer, Olympic bronze (K-1 slalom), five golds at ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships (two-time K-1, three-time K-1 team)
Pierre Galle, basketball player and coach
Pierre Gasly, racing driver currently competing in Formula One with Scuderia AlphaTauri
Camille du Gast, race car driver
Lucien Gaudin, fencer
Fabien Gilot, Olympic and world champion swimmer
Yoann Gourcuff, football player
Stéphane Haccoun, boxer
Rudy Haddad, soccer midfielder (Hapoel Ashkelon & U21 national team)[4]
Alphonse Halimi ("la Petite Terreur"), world-champion bantamweight boxer
Marlène Harnois (born 1986), taekwondo practitioner
Thierry Henry, football player
Bernard Hinault, cyclist
Jaylen Hoard, basketball player
Pierre Houseaux, triathlete
Cristobal Huet, hockey player
Constant Huret, cyclist
Olivier Jacque, motorcycle rider
Rene Jacquot, boxer, underdog who became world champion
Laurent Jalabert, cyclist
Max Jean, Formula One driver
Brian Joubert, figure skater
Natan Jurkovitz (born 1995), French-Swiss-Israeli basketball player for Hapoel Be'er Sheva of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
K–Z[edit]
Alexander Lévy
Jean-Claude Killy (born 1943), skier
Raymond Kopa, football player
Pascal Lavanchy, ice dancer (with Sophie Moniotte)
Suzanne Lenglen, tennis player
Alexander Lévy (born 1990), American-born professional golfer
Alexandre Lippmann (1881–1960), épée fencer, two-time Olympic champion, two-time silver, bronze
Bixente Lizarazu, football player
Sébastien Loeb (born 1974), rally driver and five-time champion
Jeannie Longo, cyclist
Mickaël Madar (born 1968), footballer
André Mahé, cyclist
Claude Makélélé, football player
Laure Manaudou, swimmer
Amélie Mauresmo, tennis player
Jacques Mayol, freediver
Jose Meiffret, cyclist
Éric Millot, figure skater
Alain Mimoun, athlete
Sophie Moniotte, ice dancer (with Pascal Lavanchy)
Carole Montillet, skier
Armand Mouyal (1925–1988), épée fencer, Olympic bronze, world champion
Alfred "Artem" Nakache (1915–1983), swimmer, world record (200 m breaststroke), one-third of French two-time world record (3x100 relay team)
Claude Netter (1924–2007), foil fencer, Olympic champion, silver
Hellé Nice, pioneer female race car driver
Joakim Noah, NBA basketball player (Chicago Bulls)
Yannick Noah, tennis player
Jacques Ochs (1883–1971), French-born Belgian artist and Olympic fencing champion
Micheline Ostermeyer, Olympic champion in discus and shot put, bronze in high jump
Simon Pagenaud, Indycar driver[5]
Tony Parker, Belgian-born French citizen, basketball player
Gwendal Peizerat, ice dancer
Marie-José Pérec, athlete
Mary Pierce, Canadian-born French citizen, tennis player
Stéphane Peterhansel, car and motor racer, nine-time Dakar Rally winner
Julien Pillet, fencer
Michel Platini, football player
Alain Prost, Formula One driver and four-time champion
Antoine Rigaudeau, basketball player
François Rozenthal (born 1975), ice hockey player
Maurice Rozenthal (born 1975), ice hockey player
Georges Stern (1882–1928), jockey
Jean Stern (1875–1962), épée fencer, Olympic champion
Léon Théry, race car driver
Marcel Thil, world-champion boxer
Christophe Tiozzo, world-champion boxer; brother of Fabrice Tiozzo
Fabrice Tiozzo, world-champion boxer; brother of Christophe Tiozzo
David Trezeguet, football player
Tristan Vautier, Indycar driver
Patrick Vieira, Senegal-born French citizen, football player
Richard Virenque, Morocco-born French citizen, cyclist
Roger Walkowiak, cyclist
Jean-Pierre Wimille, race car driver
Albert Wolff (1906–1989), French-born American Olympic fencer
Zinedine Zidane, football player
Authors[edit]
See also: List of French-language authors, List of French-language poets, and List of French novelists
A–E[edit]
Marcel Achard
Alain-Fournier
Olivier Ameisen
Jean Anouilh, 20th-century dramatist
Guillaume Apollinaire
Louis Aragon
Antonin Artaud
Marcel Aymé
Jean-Louis Baghio'o
Honoré de Balzac, realist author
Henri Barbusse
Charles Baudelaire, 19th-century poet
Pierre Beaumarchais, comedy playwright
Simone de Beauvoir, 20th-century author
Dany Bébel-Gisler
Cyrano de Bergerac
Jean Bernabé
Georges Bernanos
Tristan Bernard
Maurice Blanchot
Antoine Blondin
Nicolas Boileau
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Pierre Boulle
Fernand Braudel
André Breton
Retif de la Bretonne
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Michel Butor
Albert Camus, existentialist author
Marie-Magdeleine Carbet
Louis-Ferdinand Céline, 20th-century author
Blaise Cendrars
Aimé Césaire, 20th-century poet
Nicolas Chamfort
Patrick Chamoiseau
René Char, 20th-century poet
Victorine Chastenay
François-René de Chateaubriand
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Emil Cioran
Paul Claudel
Jean Cocteau, 20th-century poet and playwright
Colette, 20th-century author
Maryse Condé
Raphaël Confiant
Benjamin Constant
Tristan Corbière
Pierre Corneille, classicist playwright
Marquis de Custine, travel writer
Joseph Dallois
Myriam David, psychoanalyst
Robert Desnos, 20th-century poet
Charles Dezobry, historian and historical novelist
Denis Diderot
Alexandre Dumas, père, author
Alexandre Dumas, fils, playwright/author
Marguerite Duras, 20th-century novelist
Vanessa Duriès
Paul Éluard
Salvat Etchart
F–O[edit]
Victor Hugo
Frantz Fanon, 20th-century author, psychiatrist
Léon-Paul Fargue
Georges Feydeau
Marc Ferro
Amanda Filipacchi, novelist (French and U.S. citizenship, writes in English)
Alain Finkielkraut, essayist
Gustave Flaubert, realist author
Anatole France
Marie de France, poet
Romain Gary
Jean Genet
André Gide, Nobel Prize Winner
Jean Giono
Jean Giraudoux
Françoise Giroud
Édouard Glissant
Edmond de Goncourt, writer, critic, and founder of the Académie Goncourt
Julien Gracq
Julien Green
Pierre Guyotat
Jean-Edern Hallier
Auguste Himly, historian
Victor Hugo, novelist, poet, and playwright
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Eugène Ionesco
Marie-Reine de Jaham
Alain Jouffroy, poet, art critic, plastician
Fabienne Kanor
Jean de La Bruyère
Jean de La Fontaine
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore Ducasse)
Leconte de Lisle, parnassian poet
Alphonse de Lamartine
Jacques Lacan, psychoanalyst
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, historian
Paul Lafargue
Jules Laforgue
Valéry Larbaud
Maurice Leblanc, created Arsène Lupin
Gaston Leroux, journalist and author, credited with creating the locked room puzzle mystery novel Le Mystère de la chambre jaune (The Mystery of the Yellow Room) and author of Le Fantôme de l'Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera)
Pauline de Lézardière, 18th-century historian
Stéphane Mallarmé, poet
Hector Malot, 19th-century author
André Malraux
Matthieu Marais, 18th-century lawyer and writer
Marcel Marceau, 20th-century mime (and member of the French Resistance in World War II)
René Maran
Pierre de Marivaux, playwright
Clément Marot, poet
Guy de Maupassant, novelist
François Mauriac, Roman Catholic writer
Daniel Maximin
Prosper Mérimée, 19th-century novelist
Catherine Millet, art expert, editor and erotic memoirist
Patrick Modiano
Jean Baptiste Poquelin dit Molière, 17th-century comedic playwright and actor
Alfred de Musset, 19th-century poet
Gérard de Nerval
Paul Niger
Anaïs Nin
Mona Ozouf, historian
P–Z[edit]
Marcel Pagnol
Charles Péguy, 20th-century poet
Charles Perrault, Mother Goose Tales
Georges Perec
Saint-John Perse
Roger Peyrefitte
Jean Piaget, psychologist
Jean Piat
Gisèle Pineau
Christine de Pizan, historian, poet, philosopher
Jacques Prévert, 20th-century poet
Abbé Prévost
Marcel Prévost
Marcel Proust, novelist
Raymond Queneau
François Rabelais, Renaissance writer
Raymond Radiguet
Jean Racine, classicist playwright
Pauline Réage, novelist
Arthur Rimbaud, symbolist poet
Alain Robbe-Grillet
Pierre de Ronsard
Edmond Rostand, neo-romantic playwright
Raymond Roussel
Maximilien Rubel
Marquis de Sade, erotic and philosophic author
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
George Sand, feminist author
Jean-Paul Sartre, 20th-century existentialist philosopher
Nathalie Sarraute
André Schwarz-Bart
Simone Schwarz-Bart
Pierre Seel, homosexual survivor of the concentration camps, activist, author
Victor Segalen
Madame de Sévigné
Madame de Staël
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator
Claude Simon
Stendhal, novelist (born Henry Beyle)
Alain Tasso, poet, painter, essayist, art critic, literary critic
Raphaël Tardon
Guy Tirolien
François Truffaut, 20th-century filmmaker
Paul Valéry, 20th-century poet
Vercors, pseudonym of Jean Bruller
Paul Verlaine, symbolist poet
Jules Verne, novelist
Boris Vian, 20th-century author
Alfred de Vigny, 19th-century poet
Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam
François Villon
Voltaire
Myriam Warner-Vieyra
Marguerite Yourcenar
Joseph Zobel
Émile Zola, naturalist author
Jacques Higelin
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, member of Daft Punk
Indila
Sébastien Izambard, member of the quartet Il Divo
IAM
Joëlle
Justice (band)
K–Z[edit]
Patricia Kaas
Kassav'
Kavinsky
Rina Ketty
Kiki, "Queen of Montparnasse"
La Goulue
Larusso
Boby Lapointe
Bernard Lavilliers
Maxime Le Forestier
Sébastien Lefebvre
Gérard Lenorman
Nolwenn Leroy
Lilly Wood and the Prick
Claudine Longet
Didier Lucchesi
Sheryfa Luna
M83
Madeon
Christophe Maé
Mano Negra
Luis Mariano
Anna Marly
Alain Marion
Didier Marouani, musician and composer
Mireille Mathieu
Félix Mayol
Miossec
Mireille
Mistinguett
Ginette Neveu
Yannick Noah
Claude Nougaro
NTM
Noir Désir
Vanessa Paradis
Pierre Perret
Michel Petrucciani
Édith Piaf
Michel Polnareff
Lily Pons, opera singer (naturalized as a United States citizen in 1940)
Rene Rancourt
Renaud
Tino Rossi
Jean Sablon
David Serero
Bob Sinclar
Skip the Use
Alain Souchon
Mano Solo
Jeff Stinco
Sébastien Tellier
Yann Tiersen
Charles Trenet
Christian Vander
Sylvie Vartan
Boris Vian
Pauline Viardot, opera singer and composer
Pedro Winter
Zazie
Philosophers[edit]
Main article: List of French philosophers
Pierre Abélard
Louis Althusser
Raymond Aron, sociologist and philosopher
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Gaston Bachelard
Georges Bataille
Roland Barthes
Jean Baudrillard, philosopher and sociologist
Pierre Bourdieu, sociologist
Julien Benda
Henri Bergson
Émile Boutroux
Michel de Certeau
André Comte-Sponville
Jean de Crèvecœur
Guy Debord
Gilles Deleuze
Jacques Derrida
René Descartes, scientist and philosopher
Denis Diderot, Enlightenment author and deist philosopher
Frantz Fanon
Michel Foucault
Édouard Glissant
Félix Guattari
Vladimir Jankélévitch
Étienne de La Boétie, philosopher and politician
Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe
Henri Lefèbvre
Marcel Légaut, Christian philosopher
Jean de Léry, corsaire and ethnologist, anti-racism activist
Emmanuel Lévinas
Jean-François Lyotard
Nicolas Malebranche
Gabriel Marcel, philosopher
Jacques Maritain, philosopher
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, phenomenologist
Michel de Montaigne, philosopher essayist
Montesquieu, political philosopher
Edgar Morin
Emmanuel Mounier, philosopher
Jean-Luc Nancy, philosopher
Blaise Pascal, scientist, Mathematician, Christian philosopher, and author
Jean-François Revel
Paul Ricœur
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Paul Sartre, existentialist philosopher
Michel Serres
François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire), Enlightenment author, deist/agnostic philosopher
Éric Weil, philosopher
Simone Weil
Politicians[edit]
See also: List of Prime Ministers of France, List of Presidents of France, and List of foreign-born French politicians
Robert Badinter, lawyer, statesman and anti-death-sentence activist
François Bayrou, UDF party leader
Léon Blum, politician, Socialist party leader, prime minister
José Bové, anti-globalization activist, altermondialist
Aristide Briand
Jacques Chirac, politician, member of center-right wing party, former city mayor of Paris, two-term French president
Georges Clemenceau
Gaspard de Coligny
Bertrand Delanoë, mayor of Paris
Jacques Delors
Félix Faure, President of France who died of a heart attack while making love to his mistress
Charles de Gaulle, World War II general, commander of the Free French Forces, heroic French president
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
François Guizot, Prime Minister
Gisèle Halimi lawyer and feminist activist
François Hollande, former PS (Socialist Party) leader, former French president (15 May 2012 – 14 May 2017)
Jean Jaurès, politician, pacifist
Lionel Jospin, socialist, former prime minister
Bernard Kouchner, founder of Médecins du Monde
Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the extreme right party in France, Front National, presidential candidate
Louis Lépine, Paris police chief, governor of Algiers, founder of the Concours Lépine
Émile Loubet, President of France who was elected in 1899, after the death of Félix Faure
Henri-Auguste Lozé, Paris police chief, senator of the Third Republic
Emmanuel Macron, founder and current President of En Marche, current President of France (from 14 May 2017)
Jean-Paul Marat, politician during the Revolution, journalist, physician, scientist
Jean-Claude Martinez, lawyer and European deputy
Pierre Mendès France, lawyer and statesman, prime minister
Honoré Mirabeau
François Mitterrand, lawyer and statesman, president
Jean Monnet
Philippe Pétain, head of Vichy France
Alexandre de Prouville, Viceroy of New France
Marthe Richard
Maximilien Robespierre, statesman and major figure in the French Revolution
Gilberte Roca (1911–2004), Communist
Ségolène Royal, politician, Socialist party, presidential candidate
Nicolas Sarkozy, politician, President of the right wing party
Victor Schœlcher, anti-slavery activist
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
Maurice Thorez
Jacques Toubon
Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister of France
Dominique Voynet, physician and Green party politician
Popes[edit]
Main article: List of French popes
Resistance workers[edit]
Resistance workers during the German occupation of France in World War II
Lucie Samuel-Aubrac (1912–2007), human rights activist
Raymond Aubrac (born 1914), statesman
Robert Benoist (1895–1944), SOE operative, champion race car driver
Denise Bloch (1915–1945), SOE operative: King's Commendation for Brave Conduct, Legion of Honor, French Resistance Medal
Andrée Borrel (1919–1944), SOE operative: Croix de guerre
Madeleine Damerment (1917–1944), SOE operative: Legion of Honor, Croix de guerre, Médaille combattant volontaire de la Résistance
Marie Louise Dissard (1880–1957), U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
William Grover-Williams (1903–1945), SOE operative, champion race car driver
Cecily Lefort (1900–1945), SOE operative: Croix de guerre
Pierre Mendès France (1907–1982), lawyer, statesman
Jean Moulin (1899–1943), statesman
Agnès de La Barre de Nanteuil (1922–1944), assisted allied airmen
Abbé Pierre (1912–2007), Priest and founder of Emmaus
Christian Pineau (1904–1995), statesman
Eliane Plewman (1917–1944), SOE operative: Croix de guerre
Germaine Ribière (1917–1999), Righteous among the Nations
Élise Rivet (1890–1945), nun executed by Nazis for aiding the resistance
Lilian Rolfe (1914–1945), SOE agent executed by the Nazis
Odette Sansom (1912–1995), SOE operative: George Cross, MBE, Legion of Honor
Suzanne Spaak, Belgian-born agent: "Red Orchestra" intelligence network; executed 1944
Violette Szabo (1921–1945), SOE operative: George Cross, Croix de guerre
Jean-Pierre Wimille (1908–1949), SOE operative, champion race car driver
See also French Resistance
Scientists[edit]
Main article: List of French scientists
Social activists[edit]
Hubertine Auclert, journalist and feminist leader
Simone de Beauvoir, author, philosopher, and feminist
Christian de Boisredon, social activist
Sophie de Condorcet, feminist
Maria Deraismes, feminist
Marguerite Durand, journalist and feminist leader
Olympe de Gouges, feminist
Samir Kassir, journalist
Jean Théophile Victor Leclerc, radical revolutionist, newspaper publisher
Félix Pécaut, education proponent and pastor
Victor Schœlcher, abolitionist
Pierre Seel, homosexual concentration camp survivor, activist, author
Séverine, feminist
Madeleine Tribolati (1905–1995), trade unionist
Flora Tristan, feminist
Soldiers[edit]
Jeanne d'Arc, commander and saint
Chevalier Bayard
François Achille Bazaine
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
Georges Boulanger
Thomas Robert Bugeaud
Raymond H. A. Carter
François de Charette
Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, known as le Grand Condé.
Gaspard de Coligny
François Darlan
Louis-Nicolas Davout
Bob Denard
Alfred Dreyfus
Charles François Dumouriez
Ferdinand Foch
Louis Franchet d'Espèrey
Joseph Gallieni
Maurice Gamelin
Henri Gouraud
Bertrand du Guesclin
Joseph Joffre
Edmond Jouhaud
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
Alphonse Juin
Marie-Pierre Kœnig
Jacques de la Palice
Marquis de Lafayette
Charles Leclerc
Jean Lannes
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque
François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg
Hubert Lyautey
Patrice MacMahon
Charles Mangin
Claude Martin
André Masséna
Jacques Massu
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm
Simon de Montfort
Philippe Morillon
Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte
Joachim Murat
Michel Ney
Robert Nivelle
Philippe Pétain
Comte de Rochambeau
Raoul Salan
Maurice Sarrail
Nicolas Soult
Louis Jules Trochu
Henri de Turenne
Étienne de Vignolles, called La Hire
Claude Louis Hector de Villars
Maxime Weygand
Theologians[edit]
O.P. (Ordo Praedicatorum) is the abbreviation used to indicate that someone is/was a member of Dominican order, a Catholic religious order. S.J. (Societas Iesu) is the abbreviation used to indicate that someone is/was a member of the Society of Jesus, another Catholic religious order.
Marie-Émile Boismard O.P.
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jean Calvin
Sebastian Castellio, translator of the Bible
Pierre Cauchon, condemned Joan of Arc
Robert Ciboule, Roman Catholic theologian
Bernard of Clairvaux
Jean Claude
Yves Congar, O.P.
Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
Hubert Languet
Maurice Leenhardt, ethnologist, theologian
Jean Louail, theologian
François Picquet, 18th-century missionary in New France
Alexander de Rhodes S.J., 17th-century missionary to Indochina
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S.J.
Auguste Sabatier
Antonin Sertillanges O.P., founder of the Revue Thomiste
Others[edit]
Marie-Louise Arconati-Visconti (1840–1923), art collector, philanthropist
Marcel Bardiaux, sailor
Suzanne Borel, first French woman diplomat
Jeanne Calment, title claimant for the longest documented human lifespan – 122 years and 164 days
Pierre de Coubertin, initiator of the modern Olympic Games
Ninon de l'Enclos, courtesan, patron of the arts
Cavalier de la Salle, explorer
Maurice Debesse, educator
Suzanne Deutsch de la Meurthe, philanthropist, aviation supporter
René Dumont, agronomist engineer and sociologist and ecology activist
Jules Dumont d'Urville
Maurice Duverger, jurist
Gustave Eiffel, engineer
Pierre Charles L'Enfant, city planner responsible for Washington, D.C.
Charles-Michel de l'Épée, founder of world's first public school for deaf people
Norbert Ferré, illusionist
Robert Gloton, educator
Arthur de Gobineau, diplomat, author of An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races
Daniel Le Hirbec, navigator
Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds, explorer and canal engineer
Brigitte Macron, high school teacher, first lady of France
Philippe Méaille, contemporary art collector
Montgolfier brothers, balloonists
François Henri de la Motte, French spy executed for treason 1781 in London
Nostradamus, physician, author, translator, astrological consultant
Élisée Reclus, geographer and anarchist
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, magician, namesake of "Harry Houdini"
Pierre Seel, homosexual survivor of the concentration camps, activist, author
Vauban, engineer
Eugène François Vidocq, French convict-turned-spy considered the father of modern forensics
See also[edit]
Biography portal
flag France portal
Lists portal
List of French Jews
List of French people of immigrant origin
List of people by nationality: Belgians, Catalans, Monégasque people, Quebecers, Swiss
References[edit]
^ Smith, Beverley; Diamond, Dan (1997). A Year in Figure Skating. McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-2755-9. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
^ Spunder, Or (24 January 2008). הקשר ג'ונתן אסוס מועמד למכבי ת"א (in Hebrew). One.co.il. Retrieved 28 January 2008. קשרה היהודי/צרפתי של ראים מהליגה ה-2 בצרפת עשוי להגיע להתרשמות במכבי.
^ [1]
^ דיווחים בצרפת: מכבי ת"א מעוניינת ברודי חדד (in Hebrew). One.co.il. 7 July 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2007. האם הקשר היהודי, רודי חדד, בדרך למכבי תל-אביב?
^ "Simon Pagenaud becomes the first French driver to win Indianapolis 500 in more than a century". www.amp.cnn.com. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
^ "The beginning – The history of Renault". www.group.renault.com. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
^ "Meet Miss France 2016". www.france24.com. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
^ "Miss France beats Hati and Colombia to clinch Miss Universe title". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
Categories: Lists of French people
List of French people
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This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
French people of note include:
Contents
1 Actors
1.1 A–C
1.2 D–L
1.3 M–Z
2 Architects
3 Artists
3.1 Painters
3.2 Photographers
3.3 Sculptors
4 Athletes
4.1 A–J
4.2 K–Z
5 Authors
5.1 A–E
5.2 F–O
5.3 P–Z
6 Aviators
7 Business
8 Chefs
9 Colonial administrators
10 Composers
11 Craftspeople and inventors
12 Criminals
13 Dancers
14 Economists
15 Fashion
16 Fictional characters
17 Filmmakers
18 Humorists
19 Military leaders
20 Monarchs and royals
21 Musicians
21.1 A–J
21.2 K–Z
22 Philosophers
23 Politicians
24 Popes
25 Resistance workers
26 Scientists
27 Social activists
28 Soldiers
29 Theologians
30 Others
31 See also
32 References
Actors[edit]
Main article: List of French actors
A–C[edit]
Isabelle Adjani
Renée Adorée
Anouk Aimée
Flo Ankah
Arletty
Antonin Artaud
Fanny Ardant
Jeanne Aubert
Jean-Louis Aubert
Jean-Pierre Aumont
Claude Autant-Lara
Daniel Auteuil
Charles Aznavour
Brigitte Bardot
Emmanuelle Béart
Loleh Bellon
Jean-Paul Belmondo
François Berléand
Charles Berling
Suzanne Bianchetti
Juliette Binoche
Bernard Blier
Sandrine Bonnaire
Élodie Bouchez
Bourvil
Dany Boon
Angelique Boyer
Charles Boyer
Guillaume Canet
Capucine
Martine Carol
Leslie Caron
Isabelle Carré
Vincent Cassel
Jean-Pierre Cassel
Laetitia Casta
Robert Clary
Grégoire Colin
Marion Cotillard
Clotilde Courau
Darry Cowl
D–L[edit]
Béatrice Dalle
Lili Damita
Danielle Darrieux
Alain Delon
Danièle Delorme
Julie Delpy
Catherine Deneuve
Élisabeth Depardieu
Gérard Depardieu
Guillaume Depardieu
Patrick Dewaere
Arielle Dombasle
Michel Drucker
Morgane Dubled
Jean Dujardin
Anny Dupérey
Romain Duris
Nicolas Duvauchelle
Fernandel
Brigitte Fossey
Louis de Funès
Félicité Du Jeu
Jean Gabin
Julie Gayet
Annie Girardot
Judith Godrèche
Eva Green
Sacha Guitry
Isabelle Huppert
Irène Jacob
Claude Jade
Marlène Jobert
Valérie Kaprisky
Mélanie Laurent
Jean-Pierre Léaud
Virginie Ledoyen
Noémie Lenoir
Max Linder
Sheryfa Luna
M–Z[edit]
Marcel Marceau
Sophie Marceau
Jean Marais
Jean-Pierre Marielle
Olivier Martinez
Jean-Baptiste Maunier
Bernard Minet
Miou-Miou
Mistinguett
Yves Montand
Jeanne Moreau
Michèle Morgan
Musidora
Pierre Niney
Gérard Philipe
Michel Piccoli
Clémence Poésy
Alexia Portal
Yvonne Printemps
Pérette Pradier
Jérôme Pradon
Rachel (actress) pseudonym for Elisa-Rachel Félix
Gabrielle Réjane
Jean Reno
Marine Renoir
Pierre Richard
Sebastian Roché
Jean Rochefort
Béatrice Romand
Philippine de Rothschild
Nathalie Roussel
Michel Roux
Emmanuelle Seigner
David Serero
Léa Seydoux
Delphine Seyrig
Simone Signoret
Audrey Tautou
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Marie Trintignant
Gaspard Ulliel
Michael Vartan
Hervé Villechaize
Lambert Wilson
Architects[edit]
Main article: List of French architects
Jacques-François Blondel
Germain Boffrand
Étienne-Louis Boullée
Salomon de Brosse
Libéral Bruant
Androuet du Cerceau family
Le Corbusier pseudonym for Charles Edouard Jeanneret (Swiss-born)
Philibert de l'Orme
Gustave Eiffel
Pierre François Léonard Fontaine
Ange-Jacques Gabriel
Charles Garnier
Tony Garnier
Hector Guimard
Villard de Honnecourt
Pierre Jeanneret (Swiss-born)
Henri Labrouste
Claude Nicolas Ledoux
Pierre Lescot
André Lurçat
Robert Mallet-Stevens
François Mansart
Jules Hardouin Mansart
Louis Métezeau
Michel Mimran (born 1954)
Jean Nouvel
Charles Percier
Claude Perrault
Dominique Perrault
Auguste Perret
Christian de Portzamparc
Jean Prouvé
Alain Provost
Henri Sauvage
Jacques-Germain Soufflot
Louis Le Vau
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
Artists[edit]
Auguste Rodin
Main article: List of French artists
Painters[edit]
Main article: List of French painters
Photographers[edit]
Main article: List of French photographers
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Brassaï born in Hungary
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Raymond Depardon
Robert Doisneau
Pierre Dubreuil
Jules Gervais-Courtellemont
Nadar
Willy Ronis
Sculptors[edit]
Frédéric Bartholdi
Antoine Bourdelle
Antonin Carlès
Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux
César
Antoine-Denis Chaudet
Camille Claudel
Paul Dubois
Raymond Duchamp-Villon
Alexandre Falguière
Jean-Antoine Houdon
René Iché
Antonin Idrac
Antonin Mercié
Hippolyte Moulin
Émile Louis Picault
Jean-Baptiste Pigalle
Antoine-Augustin Préault
Auguste Rodin
François Rude
Niki de Saint Phalle
Sacha Sosno
Athletes[edit]
Main articles: List of French sportspeople and Category:French athletes
A–J[edit]
André the Giant
Sarah Abitbol
Jessica Fox
André the Giant, professional wrestler
Sarah Abitbol, pairs figure skater (with Stéphane Bernadis); World Figure Skating Championship bronze[1]
Tariq Abdul-Wahad (born Olivier Saint-Jean), basketball player
Luc Alphand, Alpine skier
Jacques Anquetil, cyclist
Jonathan Assous, France/Israel, defensive midfielder (Beitar Ramat Gan)[2]
Fabien Barthez, football player
Elliot Benchetrit, tennis player
Brice Blanc, jockey
Marion Bartoli, tennis player
Fabrice Benichou, world-champion super bantamweight boxer
Stéphane Bernadis, pairs figure skater (with Sarah Abitbol)
Alain Bernard, Olympic swimmer
Serge Betsen, Cameroon-born French citizen, rugby player
Serge Blanco, Venezuela-born French citizen, rugby player
Jean Bloch, Olympic silver football player
Louison Bobet, cyclist
Surya Bonaly, figure skater
Sébastien Bourdais, Indycar driver
Frédéric Bourdillon (born 1991), French-Israeli basketball player in the Israel Basketball Premier League
Andrée Brunet and Pierre Brunet, 1928 and 1932 Olympic skating gold medalists
Alain Calmat, figure skater, Olympic silver, world championship gold, silver, two-time bronze
Philippe Candeloro, figure skater
Eric Cantona, football player
Georges Carpentier, world-champion boxer
Marcel Cerdan, world-champion boxer
François Cevert (born François Goldenberg), Formula One driver
Eugène Christophe, cyclist
Albert Clément (c. 1878–1907), motor racing driver
Robert Cohen, world-champion bantamweight boxer
Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro, tennis player
Eugène Criqui, world-champion boxer
Jean Cruguet, jockey of Seattle Slew
Richard Dacoury, basketball player
Pierre Darmon, tennis player, highest world ranking # 8
André Darrigade, cyclist
Mathieu Debuchy, football player
Émile Delahaye, race car pioneer
Marcel Desailly, Ghana-born French citizen, football player
Abou Diaby, football player
Boris Diaw, basketball player
David Douillet, judoka
Yves Dreyfus, épée fencer, Olympic bronze medal, French champion
Isabelle Duchesnay and Paul Duchesnay, ice dancers
Alojzy Ehrlich, Poland, table tennis, 3x won silver and 1x won bronze in the World Championships, incarcerated by the Nazis in Auschwitz, represented France after 1945.
Andre Ethier, Major League Baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers
Patrice Evra, football player for Monaco and Manchester United
André Fabre, horse trainer
Evan Fournier, basketball player
Laurent Fignon, cyclist
Jeremy Flores, surfer
Just Fontaine, football player
Jacques Fouroux, rugby union player and coach
Jessica Fox (born 1994), French-born Australian, slalom canoer, Olympic silver (K-1 slalom), world championships bronze (C-1)[3]
Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, slalom canoer, Olympic bronze (K-1 slalom), five golds at ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships (two-time K-1, three-time K-1 team)
Pierre Galle, basketball player and coach
Pierre Gasly, racing driver currently competing in Formula One with Scuderia AlphaTauri
Camille du Gast, race car driver
Lucien Gaudin, fencer
Fabien Gilot, Olympic and world champion swimmer
Yoann Gourcuff, football player
Stéphane Haccoun, boxer
Rudy Haddad, soccer midfielder (Hapoel Ashkelon & U21 national team)[4]
Alphonse Halimi ("la Petite Terreur"), world-champion bantamweight boxer
Marlène Harnois (born 1986), taekwondo practitioner
Thierry Henry, football player
Bernard Hinault, cyclist
Jaylen Hoard, basketball player
Pierre Houseaux, triathlete
Cristobal Huet, hockey player
Constant Huret, cyclist
Olivier Jacque, motorcycle rider
Rene Jacquot, boxer, underdog who became world champion
Laurent Jalabert, cyclist
Max Jean, Formula One driver
Brian Joubert, figure skater
Natan Jurkovitz (born 1995), French-Swiss-Israeli basketball player for Hapoel Be'er Sheva of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
K–Z[edit]
Alexander Lévy
Jean-Claude Killy (born 1943), skier
Raymond Kopa, football player
Pascal Lavanchy, ice dancer (with Sophie Moniotte)
Suzanne Lenglen, tennis player
Alexander Lévy (born 1990), American-born professional golfer
Alexandre Lippmann (1881–1960), épée fencer, two-time Olympic champion, two-time silver, bronze
Bixente Lizarazu, football player
Sébastien Loeb (born 1974), rally driver and five-time champion
Jeannie Longo, cyclist
Mickaël Madar (born 1968), footballer
André Mahé, cyclist
Claude Makélélé, football player
Laure Manaudou, swimmer
Amélie Mauresmo, tennis player
Jacques Mayol, freediver
Jose Meiffret, cyclist
Éric Millot, figure skater
Alain Mimoun, athlete
Sophie Moniotte, ice dancer (with Pascal Lavanchy)
Carole Montillet, skier
Armand Mouyal (1925–1988), épée fencer, Olympic bronze, world champion
Alfred "Artem" Nakache (1915–1983), swimmer, world record (200 m breaststroke), one-third of French two-time world record (3x100 relay team)
Claude Netter (1924–2007), foil fencer, Olympic champion, silver
Hellé Nice, pioneer female race car driver
Joakim Noah, NBA basketball player (Chicago Bulls)
Yannick Noah, tennis player
Jacques Ochs (1883–1971), French-born Belgian artist and Olympic fencing champion
Micheline Ostermeyer, Olympic champion in discus and shot put, bronze in high jump
Simon Pagenaud, Indycar driver[5]
Tony Parker, Belgian-born French citizen, basketball player
Gwendal Peizerat, ice dancer
Marie-José Pérec, athlete
Mary Pierce, Canadian-born French citizen, tennis player
Stéphane Peterhansel, car and motor racer, nine-time Dakar Rally winner
Julien Pillet, fencer
Michel Platini, football player
Alain Prost, Formula One driver and four-time champion
Antoine Rigaudeau, basketball player
François Rozenthal (born 1975), ice hockey player
Maurice Rozenthal (born 1975), ice hockey player
Georges Stern (1882–1928), jockey
Jean Stern (1875–1962), épée fencer, Olympic champion
Léon Théry, race car driver
Marcel Thil, world-champion boxer
Christophe Tiozzo, world-champion boxer; brother of Fabrice Tiozzo
Fabrice Tiozzo, world-champion boxer; brother of Christophe Tiozzo
David Trezeguet, football player
Tristan Vautier, Indycar driver
Patrick Vieira, Senegal-born French citizen, football player
Richard Virenque, Morocco-born French citizen, cyclist
Roger Walkowiak, cyclist
Jean-Pierre Wimille, race car driver
Albert Wolff (1906–1989), French-born American Olympic fencer
Zinedine Zidane, football player
Authors[edit]
See also: List of French-language authors, List of French-language poets, and List of French novelists
A–E[edit]
Marcel Achard
Alain-Fournier
Olivier Ameisen
Jean Anouilh, 20th-century dramatist
Guillaume Apollinaire
Louis Aragon
Antonin Artaud
Marcel Aymé
Jean-Louis Baghio'o
Honoré de Balzac, realist author
Henri Barbusse
Charles Baudelaire, 19th-century poet
Pierre Beaumarchais, comedy playwright
Simone de Beauvoir, 20th-century author
Dany Bébel-Gisler
Cyrano de Bergerac
Jean Bernabé
Georges Bernanos
Tristan Bernard
Maurice Blanchot
Antoine Blondin
Nicolas Boileau
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Pierre Boulle
Fernand Braudel
André Breton
Retif de la Bretonne
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Michel Butor
Albert Camus, existentialist author
Marie-Magdeleine Carbet
Louis-Ferdinand Céline, 20th-century author
Blaise Cendrars
Aimé Césaire, 20th-century poet
Nicolas Chamfort
Patrick Chamoiseau
René Char, 20th-century poet
Victorine Chastenay
François-René de Chateaubriand
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Emil Cioran
Paul Claudel
Jean Cocteau, 20th-century poet and playwright
Colette, 20th-century author
Maryse Condé
Raphaël Confiant
Benjamin Constant
Tristan Corbière
Pierre Corneille, classicist playwright
Marquis de Custine, travel writer
Joseph Dallois
Myriam David, psychoanalyst
Robert Desnos, 20th-century poet
Charles Dezobry, historian and historical novelist
Denis Diderot
Alexandre Dumas, père, author
Alexandre Dumas, fils, playwright/author
Marguerite Duras, 20th-century novelist
Vanessa Duriès
Paul Éluard
Salvat Etchart
F–O[edit]
Victor Hugo
Frantz Fanon, 20th-century author, psychiatrist
Léon-Paul Fargue
Georges Feydeau
Marc Ferro
Amanda Filipacchi, novelist (French and U.S. citizenship, writes in English)
Alain Finkielkraut, essayist
Gustave Flaubert, realist author
Anatole France
Marie de France, poet
Romain Gary
Jean Genet
André Gide, Nobel Prize Winner
Jean Giono
Jean Giraudoux
Françoise Giroud
Édouard Glissant
Edmond de Goncourt, writer, critic, and founder of the Académie Goncourt
Julien Gracq
Julien Green
Pierre Guyotat
Jean-Edern Hallier
Auguste Himly, historian
Victor Hugo, novelist, poet, and playwright
Joris-Karl Huysmans
Eugène Ionesco
Marie-Reine de Jaham
Alain Jouffroy, poet, art critic, plastician
Fabienne Kanor
Jean de La Bruyère
Jean de La Fontaine
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
Comte de Lautréamont (Isidore Ducasse)
Leconte de Lisle, parnassian poet
Alphonse de Lamartine
Jacques Lacan, psychoanalyst
Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, historian
Paul Lafargue
Jules Laforgue
Valéry Larbaud
Maurice Leblanc, created Arsène Lupin
Gaston Leroux, journalist and author, credited with creating the locked room puzzle mystery novel Le Mystère de la chambre jaune (The Mystery of the Yellow Room) and author of Le Fantôme de l'Opéra (The Phantom of the Opera)
Pauline de Lézardière, 18th-century historian
Stéphane Mallarmé, poet
Hector Malot, 19th-century author
André Malraux
Matthieu Marais, 18th-century lawyer and writer
Marcel Marceau, 20th-century mime (and member of the French Resistance in World War II)
René Maran
Pierre de Marivaux, playwright
Clément Marot, poet
Guy de Maupassant, novelist
François Mauriac, Roman Catholic writer
Daniel Maximin
Prosper Mérimée, 19th-century novelist
Catherine Millet, art expert, editor and erotic memoirist
Patrick Modiano
Jean Baptiste Poquelin dit Molière, 17th-century comedic playwright and actor
Alfred de Musset, 19th-century poet
Gérard de Nerval
Paul Niger
Anaïs Nin
Mona Ozouf, historian
P–Z[edit]
Marcel Pagnol
Charles Péguy, 20th-century poet
Charles Perrault, Mother Goose Tales
Georges Perec
Saint-John Perse
Roger Peyrefitte
Jean Piaget, psychologist
Jean Piat
Gisèle Pineau
Christine de Pizan, historian, poet, philosopher
Jacques Prévert, 20th-century poet
Abbé Prévost
Marcel Prévost
Marcel Proust, novelist
Raymond Queneau
François Rabelais, Renaissance writer
Raymond Radiguet
Jean Racine, classicist playwright
Pauline Réage, novelist
Arthur Rimbaud, symbolist poet
Alain Robbe-Grillet
Pierre de Ronsard
Edmond Rostand, neo-romantic playwright
Raymond Roussel
Maximilien Rubel
Marquis de Sade, erotic and philosophic author
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
George Sand, feminist author
Jean-Paul Sartre, 20th-century existentialist philosopher
Nathalie Sarraute
André Schwarz-Bart
Simone Schwarz-Bart
Pierre Seel, homosexual survivor of the concentration camps, activist, author
Victor Segalen
Madame de Sévigné
Madame de Staël
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, author and aviator
Claude Simon
Stendhal, novelist (born Henry Beyle)
Alain Tasso, poet, painter, essayist, art critic, literary critic
Raphaël Tardon
Guy Tirolien
François Truffaut, 20th-century filmmaker
Paul Valéry, 20th-century poet
Vercors, pseudonym of Jean Bruller
Paul Verlaine, symbolist poet
Jules Verne, novelist
Boris Vian, 20th-century author
Alfred de Vigny, 19th-century poet
Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam
François Villon
Voltaire
Myriam Warner-Vieyra
Marguerite Yourcenar
Joseph Zobel
Émile Zola, naturalist author
Jacques Higelin
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, member of Daft Punk
Indila
Sébastien Izambard, member of the quartet Il Divo
IAM
Joëlle
Justice (band)
K–Z[edit]
Patricia Kaas
Kassav'
Kavinsky
Rina Ketty
Kiki, "Queen of Montparnasse"
La Goulue
Larusso
Boby Lapointe
Bernard Lavilliers
Maxime Le Forestier
Sébastien Lefebvre
Gérard Lenorman
Nolwenn Leroy
Lilly Wood and the Prick
Claudine Longet
Didier Lucchesi
Sheryfa Luna
M83
Madeon
Christophe Maé
Mano Negra
Luis Mariano
Anna Marly
Alain Marion
Didier Marouani, musician and composer
Mireille Mathieu
Félix Mayol
Miossec
Mireille
Mistinguett
Ginette Neveu
Yannick Noah
Claude Nougaro
NTM
Noir Désir
Vanessa Paradis
Pierre Perret
Michel Petrucciani
Édith Piaf
Michel Polnareff
Lily Pons, opera singer (naturalized as a United States citizen in 1940)
Rene Rancourt
Renaud
Tino Rossi
Jean Sablon
David Serero
Bob Sinclar
Skip the Use
Alain Souchon
Mano Solo
Jeff Stinco
Sébastien Tellier
Yann Tiersen
Charles Trenet
Christian Vander
Sylvie Vartan
Boris Vian
Pauline Viardot, opera singer and composer
Pedro Winter
Zazie
Philosophers[edit]
Main article: List of French philosophers
Pierre Abélard
Louis Althusser
Raymond Aron, sociologist and philosopher
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Gaston Bachelard
Georges Bataille
Roland Barthes
Jean Baudrillard, philosopher and sociologist
Pierre Bourdieu, sociologist
Julien Benda
Henri Bergson
Émile Boutroux
Michel de Certeau
André Comte-Sponville
Jean de Crèvecœur
Guy Debord
Gilles Deleuze
Jacques Derrida
René Descartes, scientist and philosopher
Denis Diderot, Enlightenment author and deist philosopher
Frantz Fanon
Michel Foucault
Édouard Glissant
Félix Guattari
Vladimir Jankélévitch
Étienne de La Boétie, philosopher and politician
Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe
Henri Lefèbvre
Marcel Légaut, Christian philosopher
Jean de Léry, corsaire and ethnologist, anti-racism activist
Emmanuel Lévinas
Jean-François Lyotard
Nicolas Malebranche
Gabriel Marcel, philosopher
Jacques Maritain, philosopher
Maurice Merleau-Ponty, phenomenologist
Michel de Montaigne, philosopher essayist
Montesquieu, political philosopher
Edgar Morin
Emmanuel Mounier, philosopher
Jean-Luc Nancy, philosopher
Blaise Pascal, scientist, Mathematician, Christian philosopher, and author
Jean-François Revel
Paul Ricœur
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Paul Sartre, existentialist philosopher
Michel Serres
François-Marie Arouet (Voltaire), Enlightenment author, deist/agnostic philosopher
Éric Weil, philosopher
Simone Weil
Politicians[edit]
See also: List of Prime Ministers of France, List of Presidents of France, and List of foreign-born French politicians
Robert Badinter, lawyer, statesman and anti-death-sentence activist
François Bayrou, UDF party leader
Léon Blum, politician, Socialist party leader, prime minister
José Bové, anti-globalization activist, altermondialist
Aristide Briand
Jacques Chirac, politician, member of center-right wing party, former city mayor of Paris, two-term French president
Georges Clemenceau
Gaspard de Coligny
Bertrand Delanoë, mayor of Paris
Jacques Delors
Félix Faure, President of France who died of a heart attack while making love to his mistress
Charles de Gaulle, World War II general, commander of the Free French Forces, heroic French president
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
François Guizot, Prime Minister
Gisèle Halimi lawyer and feminist activist
François Hollande, former PS (Socialist Party) leader, former French president (15 May 2012 – 14 May 2017)
Jean Jaurès, politician, pacifist
Lionel Jospin, socialist, former prime minister
Bernard Kouchner, founder of Médecins du Monde
Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the extreme right party in France, Front National, presidential candidate
Louis Lépine, Paris police chief, governor of Algiers, founder of the Concours Lépine
Émile Loubet, President of France who was elected in 1899, after the death of Félix Faure
Henri-Auguste Lozé, Paris police chief, senator of the Third Republic
Emmanuel Macron, founder and current President of En Marche, current President of France (from 14 May 2017)
Jean-Paul Marat, politician during the Revolution, journalist, physician, scientist
Jean-Claude Martinez, lawyer and European deputy
Pierre Mendès France, lawyer and statesman, prime minister
Honoré Mirabeau
François Mitterrand, lawyer and statesman, president
Jean Monnet
Philippe Pétain, head of Vichy France
Alexandre de Prouville, Viceroy of New France
Marthe Richard
Maximilien Robespierre, statesman and major figure in the French Revolution
Gilberte Roca (1911–2004), Communist
Ségolène Royal, politician, Socialist party, presidential candidate
Nicolas Sarkozy, politician, President of the right wing party
Victor Schœlcher, anti-slavery activist
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
Maurice Thorez
Jacques Toubon
Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister of France
Dominique Voynet, physician and Green party politician
Popes[edit]
Main article: List of French popes
Resistance workers[edit]
Resistance workers during the German occupation of France in World War II
Lucie Samuel-Aubrac (1912–2007), human rights activist
Raymond Aubrac (born 1914), statesman
Robert Benoist (1895–1944), SOE operative, champion race car driver
Denise Bloch (1915–1945), SOE operative: King's Commendation for Brave Conduct, Legion of Honor, French Resistance Medal
Andrée Borrel (1919–1944), SOE operative: Croix de guerre
Madeleine Damerment (1917–1944), SOE operative: Legion of Honor, Croix de guerre, Médaille combattant volontaire de la Résistance
Marie Louise Dissard (1880–1957), U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
William Grover-Williams (1903–1945), SOE operative, champion race car driver
Cecily Lefort (1900–1945), SOE operative: Croix de guerre
Pierre Mendès France (1907–1982), lawyer, statesman
Jean Moulin (1899–1943), statesman
Agnès de La Barre de Nanteuil (1922–1944), assisted allied airmen
Abbé Pierre (1912–2007), Priest and founder of Emmaus
Christian Pineau (1904–1995), statesman
Eliane Plewman (1917–1944), SOE operative: Croix de guerre
Germaine Ribière (1917–1999), Righteous among the Nations
Élise Rivet (1890–1945), nun executed by Nazis for aiding the resistance
Lilian Rolfe (1914–1945), SOE agent executed by the Nazis
Odette Sansom (1912–1995), SOE operative: George Cross, MBE, Legion of Honor
Suzanne Spaak, Belgian-born agent: "Red Orchestra" intelligence network; executed 1944
Violette Szabo (1921–1945), SOE operative: George Cross, Croix de guerre
Jean-Pierre Wimille (1908–1949), SOE operative, champion race car driver
See also French Resistance
Scientists[edit]
Main article: List of French scientists
Social activists[edit]
Hubertine Auclert, journalist and feminist leader
Simone de Beauvoir, author, philosopher, and feminist
Christian de Boisredon, social activist
Sophie de Condorcet, feminist
Maria Deraismes, feminist
Marguerite Durand, journalist and feminist leader
Olympe de Gouges, feminist
Samir Kassir, journalist
Jean Théophile Victor Leclerc, radical revolutionist, newspaper publisher
Félix Pécaut, education proponent and pastor
Victor Schœlcher, abolitionist
Pierre Seel, homosexual concentration camp survivor, activist, author
Séverine, feminist
Madeleine Tribolati (1905–1995), trade unionist
Flora Tristan, feminist
Soldiers[edit]
Jeanne d'Arc, commander and saint
Chevalier Bayard
François Achille Bazaine
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
Georges Boulanger
Thomas Robert Bugeaud
Raymond H. A. Carter
François de Charette
Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, known as le Grand Condé.
Gaspard de Coligny
François Darlan
Louis-Nicolas Davout
Bob Denard
Alfred Dreyfus
Charles François Dumouriez
Ferdinand Foch
Louis Franchet d'Espèrey
Joseph Gallieni
Maurice Gamelin
Henri Gouraud
Bertrand du Guesclin
Joseph Joffre
Edmond Jouhaud
Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
Alphonse Juin
Marie-Pierre Kœnig
Jacques de la Palice
Marquis de Lafayette
Charles Leclerc
Jean Lannes
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny
Philippe Leclerc de Hauteclocque
François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg
Hubert Lyautey
Patrice MacMahon
Charles Mangin
Claude Martin
André Masséna
Jacques Massu
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm
Simon de Montfort
Philippe Morillon
Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte
Joachim Murat
Michel Ney
Robert Nivelle
Philippe Pétain
Comte de Rochambeau
Raoul Salan
Maurice Sarrail
Nicolas Soult
Louis Jules Trochu
Henri de Turenne
Étienne de Vignolles, called La Hire
Claude Louis Hector de Villars
Maxime Weygand
Theologians[edit]
O.P. (Ordo Praedicatorum) is the abbreviation used to indicate that someone is/was a member of Dominican order, a Catholic religious order. S.J. (Societas Iesu) is the abbreviation used to indicate that someone is/was a member of the Society of Jesus, another Catholic religious order.
Marie-Émile Boismard O.P.
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jean Calvin
Sebastian Castellio, translator of the Bible
Pierre Cauchon, condemned Joan of Arc
Robert Ciboule, Roman Catholic theologian
Bernard of Clairvaux
Jean Claude
Yves Congar, O.P.
Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
Hubert Languet
Maurice Leenhardt, ethnologist, theologian
Jean Louail, theologian
François Picquet, 18th-century missionary in New France
Alexander de Rhodes S.J., 17th-century missionary to Indochina
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S.J.
Auguste Sabatier
Antonin Sertillanges O.P., founder of the Revue Thomiste
Others[edit]
Marie-Louise Arconati-Visconti (1840–1923), art collector, philanthropist
Marcel Bardiaux, sailor
Suzanne Borel, first French woman diplomat
Jeanne Calment, title claimant for the longest documented human lifespan – 122 years and 164 days
Pierre de Coubertin, initiator of the modern Olympic Games
Ninon de l'Enclos, courtesan, patron of the arts
Cavalier de la Salle, explorer
Maurice Debesse, educator
Suzanne Deutsch de la Meurthe, philanthropist, aviation supporter
René Dumont, agronomist engineer and sociologist and ecology activist
Jules Dumont d'Urville
Maurice Duverger, jurist
Gustave Eiffel, engineer
Pierre Charles L'Enfant, city planner responsible for Washington, D.C.
Charles-Michel de l'Épée, founder of world's first public school for deaf people
Norbert Ferré, illusionist
Robert Gloton, educator
Arthur de Gobineau, diplomat, author of An Essay on the Inequality of the Human Races
Daniel Le Hirbec, navigator
Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds, explorer and canal engineer
Brigitte Macron, high school teacher, first lady of France
Philippe Méaille, contemporary art collector
Montgolfier brothers, balloonists
François Henri de la Motte, French spy executed for treason 1781 in London
Nostradamus, physician, author, translator, astrological consultant
Élisée Reclus, geographer and anarchist
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, magician, namesake of "Harry Houdini"
Pierre Seel, homosexual survivor of the concentration camps, activist, author
Vauban, engineer
Eugène François Vidocq, French convict-turned-spy considered the father of modern forensics
See also[edit]
Biography portal
flag France portal
Lists portal
List of French Jews
List of French people of immigrant origin
List of people by nationality: Belgians, Catalans, Monégasque people, Quebecers, Swiss
References[edit]
^ Smith, Beverley; Diamond, Dan (1997). A Year in Figure Skating. McClelland & Stewart. ISBN 0-7710-2755-9. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
^ Spunder, Or (24 January 2008). הקשר ג'ונתן אסוס מועמד למכבי ת"א (in Hebrew). One.co.il. Retrieved 28 January 2008. קשרה היהודי/צרפתי של ראים מהליגה ה-2 בצרפת עשוי להגיע להתרשמות במכבי.
^ [1]
^ דיווחים בצרפת: מכבי ת"א מעוניינת ברודי חדד (in Hebrew). One.co.il. 7 July 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2007. האם הקשר היהודי, רודי חדד, בדרך למכבי תל-אביב?
^ "Simon Pagenaud becomes the first French driver to win Indianapolis 500 in more than a century". www.amp.cnn.com. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
^ "The beginning – The history of Renault". www.group.renault.com. Retrieved 12 June 2019.
^ "Meet Miss France 2016". www.france24.com. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
^ "Miss France beats Hati and Colombia to clinch Miss Universe title". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
Categories: Lists of French people