List of French people

Actors/actresses

A

B-C

D-L

M-V

Architects

Authors

A

Marcel Achard -- playwright and scriptwriter
Alain-Fournier
Jean Anouilh -- 20th century dramatist
Guillaume Apollinaire -- (born Russian) poet
Antonin Artaud

L

M-N

Stéphane Mallarmé -- poet
Hector Malot -- 19th century author
André Malraux
Pierre de Marivaux - playwright
Clément Marot -- poet
Guy de Maupassant novelist
François Mauriac - Roman Catholic writer
Prosper Mérimée - 19th century novelist
Henri Michaux
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
Anaïs Nin

P-R

Marcel Pagnol
Charles Péguy -- 20th century poet
Charles Perrault -- Mother Goose Tales
Georges Perec
Saint-John Perse
Jean Piaget - psychologist
Christine de Pizan, historian, poet, philosopher
Jacques Prevert -- 20th century poet
Abbé Prévost
Marcel Prevost
Marcel Proust -- novelist
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

S-Z

Marquis de Sade -- erotic and philosophic author
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
George Sand -- feminist author
Nathalie Sarraute
Victor Segalen
Madame de Sévigné
Madame de Staël
Antoine de Saint-Exupery , humanist author and aviators.
Claude Simon
Stendhal -- novelist (born Henry Beyle)
Paul Valéry -- 20th century poet
Paul Verlaine -- symbolist poet
Jules Verne -- novelist
Boris Vian -- 20th century author
Alfred de Vigny -- 19th century poet
François Villon
Émile Zola -- naturalist author

Aviators

Clément Ader
Jacqueline Auriol
Louis Blériot
Henry Farman
Georges Guynemer
Jean Mermoz
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, humanist author and aviators.
Roland Garros, First to cross the Mediterranean Sea. French Open is named after him.

Business

Bernard Arnault (born 1949), entrepreneur
Liliane Bettencourt, cosmetics, richest person in France
Marcel Bich, (1914-1994), Bic pens
Vincent Bolloré (born 1952), transportation and engineering
Marcel Boussac, textiles, fashion, newspapers, race horse breeding
Ettore Bugatti (1881-1947), automobile manufacturer
André Citroën (1878-1935), automobile manufacturer
Marcel Dassault (1892-1986), aviation
Alexandre Darracq (1855-1931), automotive pioneer
Louis Delâge (1874-1947) automotive pioneer
Emile Delahaye (1843-1905), automotive pioneer
Philippe Camus Former EADS co-CEO
Gerard Louis-Dreyfus (born 1932), agricultural commodities
Eleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours (1771-1834), founder of DuPont
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), entrepreneur
Jacques Foccart (1901-1956), import-export
Léon Gaumont, pioneer film inventor
Paul-Louis Halley (1934-2004), supermarket tycoon
Max Hymans (1900-1961), aviation
Jean-Marie Messier (born 1957), former Vivendi CEO
Charles Pathé, pioneer of film industry
François Pinault (born 1936), entrepreneur
Jacques-Donatien Le Ray (1726-1803), shipping magnate and a "Father of the American Revolution"
Marcel Renault (1872-1903), automobile manufacturer
James Mayer Rothschild (1792-1868), banker
Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988), wine maker
Eugene Schueller (1881-1954), founder of L'Oreal
Bernard Tapie (born 1943), entrepreneur

Colonial administrators

Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza - French Congo
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac - Louisiana
Samuel de Champlain - New France
Joseph François Dupleix - French territories in India
Louis Faidherbe - Senegal
Joseph Gallieni - Madagascar
Francis Garnier - French Indo-China (Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos)
Émile Gentil - French Congo
Louis Hubert Gonzalve Lyautey - Algeria
Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville - Louisiana
Jean Talon - Quebec

Composers

Georges Auric
Hector Berlioz
Georges Bizet -- composer of Carmen
Pierre Boulez -- avant-garde composer
Marc Antoine Charpentier
François Couperin
Michel Richard Delalande
Georges Delerue
Claude Debussy -- Impressionist composer
Paul Dukas -- composer of The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Gabriel Fauré
César Franck -- also considered Belgian
Jean-Jacques Goldman*
Reynaldo Hahn
Pierre Henry -- writer of musique concrète and electronic music
Jean-Michel Jarre
Maurice Jarre -- film music composer
Michel Legrand
Jean François Lesueur
Jean Baptiste Lully, court composer to Louis XIV
Darius Milhaud
Jacques Offenbach -- noted for his operettas
Francis Poulenc
Jean Philippe Rameau
Maurice Ravel
Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle -- composer of "La Marseillaise", French National Anthem
Edmond Roussel
Camille Saint-Saëns
Erik Satie composer of Musiques d'ameublement
Pierre Schaeffer -- inventor of musique concrète
Les Six -- group of composers
Germaine Tailleferre
Charles-Marie Widor

Criminals

For Collaboration with Nazi Germany see also the politicians section.

Jacques de Bernonville (1897-1972), war criminal sentenced to death
Jules Bonnot
Émile Louis
Henri Désiré Landru -- serial killer
Jacques Mesrine
Maurice Papon -- politician and war criminal
Marcel Petiot -- serial killer
Jean-Claude Romand -- murderer
Paul Touvier -- The only Frenchman convicted of crime against humanity

Dancers

See also Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergeres

Economists

Maurice Allais
Frederic Bastiat
Jules Dupuit
Gerard Debreu -- Nobel memorial prize 1983
Alain Lipietz -- green economist
François Quesnay
Pascal Salin
Jean-Baptiste Say
Turgot
Fernard Braudel

Fashion

Liliane de Bettencourt, majority owner of L'Oreal, wealthiest person in France
Pierre Cardin -- Fashion Designer
Coco Chanel -- fashion designer
Edouard de Givenchy
Christian Dior -- fashion designer
Jean-Paul Gaultier
Madame Grey
Daniel Hechter -- inventor of ready-to-wear
Paul Poiret
Yves Saint-Laurent -- fashion designer

Fictional characters

Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix (French: Idéfix) (René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo) -- Gaul warriors
Athos, Porthos, Aramis and D'Artagnan (Alexandre Dumas) -- Musketeers of the King of France
Cyrano de Bergerac (Edmond Rostand -- not fictional but there's no better category)
Rastignac (Honoré de Balzac) -- The most ambitious man in Paris?
The Man in the Iron Mask -- Not fictional either, but who knows who he was?

Filmmakers

Humorists

Coluche
Francis Blanche
Pierre Dac humorist and Resistance worker
Pierre Desproges

Monarchs

Charlemagne
Henri IV
Louis XIV, the Sun King -- King of France
Louis XVI -- King of France when the Revolution started.
Marie Antoinette -- Austrian born Queen of France, wife of Louis XVI.
Napoléon Bonaparte and Joséphine de Beauharnais -- Emperor and Empress of France
Napoleon III -- Président and Emperor

Musicians, singers

Charles Aznavour
Josephine Baker, American born entertainer
Jane Bathori, opera singer
Barbara
Guy Béart
Michel Berger
Lucienne Boyer
Georges Brassens
Aristide Bruant
Manu Chao
Air_(band)
Dalida
Damia
Marie Dubas
Jacques Dutronc
Claude François -- popular singer 1960s-1970s
Fréhel
France Gall
Serge Gainsbourg
Gipsy Kings
Georgius
Jean-Jacques Goldman
Stéphane Grappelli -- jazz musician
Juliette Gréco
Gribouille (Marie-France Gaîté)
Yvette Guilbert
Johnny Hallyday - borned in Belgium, served in the French army
David Hallyday
Françoise Hardy
Joëlle
Kiki -- "Queen of Montparnasse"
La Goulue
Claudine Longet
Luis Mariano
Didier Marouani — musician and composer
Félix Mayol
Mireille Mathieu
Mireille
Mistinguett
Ginette Neveu
Yannick Noah
Vanessa Paradis
Pierre Perret
Edith Piaf
Lily Pons - opera singer (naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1940)
Tino Rossi
Jean Sablon
Bertrand Bergalat
Alain Souchon
Charles Trenet
Sylvie Vartan
Pauline Garcia-Viardot - opera singer & composer

Painters

Philosophers

Louis Althusser
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Georges Bataille
Roland Barthes
Jean Baudrillard -- philosopher and sociologist
Pierre Bourdieu, sociologist
Julien Benda
Henri Bergson
Emile Boutroux
Michel de Certeau
André Comte-Sponville
Jean de Crèvecoeur
Guy Debord
Gilles Deleuze
Jacques Derrida
René Descartes -- scientist and philosopher
Denis Diderot -- Enlightenment author and atheist philosopher
Elisabeth Bourdiau de Fontenay
Michel Foucault
Félix Guattari
Vladimir Jankelevitch
Étienne de La Boétie -- philosopher and politician
Philippe Lacoue-Labarthe
Henri Lefèbvre
Marcel Légaut - christian philosopher
Jean de Léry -- corsaireand ethnologist, anti-racism acivist
Emmanuel Lévinas
Jean-François Lyotard
Nicolas Malebranche
Gabriel Marcel -- philosopher
Maurice Merleau-Ponty -- phenomenologist
Michel de Montaigne -- philosopher essayist
Montesquieu, political philosopher
Emmanuel Mounier -- philosopher
Jean Luc Nancy -- philosopher
Blaise Pascal -- scientist, Christian philosopher and author
Paul Ricoeur
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Paul Sartre -- existentialist philosopher
Michel Serres
Jean-Marie Arouet dit Voltaire -- Enlightenment author, deist/agnostic philosopher
Eric Weil -- philosopher
Simone Weil

Politicians

Robert Badinter -- lawyer, statesman and anti death sentence activist
Léon Blum
José Bové -- altermondialist
Marcel Cachin -- founder of the daily periodic L'Humanité
Jacques Chirac
Georges Clemenceau
Gaspard de Coligny
Bertrand Delanoë
Jacques Delors
Félix Faure, President of France who died of a heart attack while making love to his mistress
Charles de Gaulle
Valéry Giscard d'Estaing
Guizot, Prime Minister
Gisèle Halimi lawyer and feminist activist
Jean Jaurès, politician, pacifist
Lionel Jospin
Bernard Kouchner -- founder of Medecins du Monde and other "French Doctors"
Jean-Marie Le Pen
Alain Lipietz -- green economist
Pierre Mendès-France -- Lawyer and Statesman
Honoré Mirabeau
François Mitterrand -- Lawyer and Statesman
Jean Monnet
Henri Philippe Pétain -- Head of Vichy France
Alexandre de Prouville, Viceroy of New France
Jean-Pierre Raffarin -- Prime Minister of France since 2002
Nicolas Sarkozy
Victor Schoelcher -- anti-slavery activist
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
Maurice Thorez
Jacques Toubon
Dominique Voynet -- Physician and Green politician

Popes

See List of French popes

Resistance workers

Scientists

A-C

Louis Agassiz -- geologist
André-Marie Ampère -- scientist
François Arago -- physicist, astronomer (and also politician)
Antoine Arbogast -- mathematician
Jean Baptiste Biot -- physicist
Jean-Charles de Borda -- mathematician, physicist, political scientist
Henri Braconnot -- chemist and pharmacist
Louis de Broglie -- 1929 Physics Nobel Prize winner.
Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot -- physicist
Augustin Louis Cauchy -- mathematician
Jean-François Champollion -- egyptologist
Emilie du Chatelet -- 18th century mathematician
Georges Charpak -- physicist, Nobel prize winner (Polish born)
Marquis de Condorcet -- philosopher, mathematician and political scientist
Charles-Augustin de Coulomb -- physicist, mathematician, engineer
Jacques Cousteau, Marine scientist
Joseph Cugnot
Irène Joliot-Curie -- scientist
Pierre Curie -- scientist

D-M

Guillaume Delisle, cartographer
René Descartes -- scientist and philosopher
Girard Desargues -- mathematician
Georges Duby -- historian
Pierre de Fermat -- mathematician
Jean Baptiste Joseph Fourier -- mathematician and physicist
Pierre Gassendi -- philosopher mathematician
Pierre-Gilles de Gennes -- physicist, Nobel prize winner
Evariste Galois -- mathematician
Frédéric Joliot -- scientist
Joseph Louis Lagrange -- mathematician
Pierre-Simon Laplace -- mathematician and physicist
Antoine Lavoisier
Jean-Marie Lehn -- chemist, Nobel prize winner in 1987
Claude Lévi-Strauss, anthropologist
Antoine Lévi-Leblond -- physicist
Albert Matthiez -- historian
André Michaux -- botanist and explorer
Jules Michelet -- historian
Abraham de Moivre -- mathematician
Theodore Monod -- naturalist and theologian
Claude Mossé -- (Ms), historian

P-V

Denis Papin
Louis Pasteur -- scientist
Blaise Pascal -- mathematician and philosopher
Étienne Pascal -- mathematician
Henri Poincaré -- mathematician and physicist
Simeon Poisson -- mathematician and physicist
Michel Rolle -- mathematician
Jean Rostand
Albert Soboul -- historian
Jean-Pierre Vernant -- historian
Pierre Vidal-Naquet -- historian and Civil Rights activist
Pierre Vilar, historian
Christophe Victor -- geographer
Paul-Emile Victor -- ethnologist

Sculptors

Social Activists

Hubertine Auclert -- journalist and feminist leader
Simone de Beauvoir -- author, philosopher, and feminist
Sophie de Condorcet -- feminist
Maria Deraismes -- feminist
Marguerite Durand -- journalist and feminist leader
Olympe de Gouges -- feminist
Séverine -- feminist
Flora Tristan -- feminist

Soldiers

Sports people

Sarah Abitbol -- pairs figure skater (with S. Bernadis)
Tariq Abdul-Wahad -- basketball player (born Olivier Saint-Jean)
Louis Acaries -- boxer, former world title challenger, now promoter
Luc Alphand -- Alpine skier
Jacques Anquetil -- cyclist
Fabien Barthez -- football player
Stephane Bernadis -- pairs figure skater (with S. Abitbol)
Serge Betsen -- Cameroon born French citizen, rugby player
Serge Blanco -- Venezuela born French citizen, rugby player
Louison Bobet -- cyclist
Surya Bonaly -- figure skater
Andrée Brunet & Pierre Brunet -- 1928 & 1932 Olympic skating Gold Medalists
Philippe Candeloro - figure skater
Eric Cantona -- football player
Georges Carpentier -- world champion boxer
Marcel Cerdan -- world champion boxer
Eugene Criqui -- world champion boxer
Jean Cruguet -- jockey of Seattle Slew
Richard Dacoury -- basketball player
Emile Delahaye -- race car pioneer
Marcel Desailly -- Ghana born French citizen, football player
David Douillet -- judo
Isabelle Duchesnay & Paul Duchesnay -- ice dancers
Laurent Fignon -- cyclist
Just Fontaine -- football player
Lucien Gaudin -- fencer
Thierry Henry -- football player
Bernard Hinault -- cyclist
Cristobal Huet -- hockey player
Constant Huret -- cyclist
Olivier Jacque -- motorcycle rider
Rene Jacquot -- boxer, underdog who became world champion
Laurent Jalabert -- cyclist
Jean-Claude Killy -- skier
Raymond Kopa -- football player
Pascal Lavanchy -- ice dancer (with S. Moniotte)
Suzanne Lenglen -- tennis player
Bixente Lizarazu - football player
Jeannie Longo -- cyclist
Laure Manaudou -- swimmer
Amélie Mauresmo -- tennis player
Jean Max -- Formula 1 driver
Jose Meiffret -- cyclist
Eric Millot -- figure skater
Alain Mimoun -- athlete
Sophie Moniotte -- ice dancer (with P. Lavanchy)
Antoine Monteiro -- boxer, lost to Santos Laciar for the world title
Carole Montillet -- skier
Hellé Nice -- pioneer female race car driver
Yannick Noah -- tennis player
Tony Parker -- Belgian born French citizen, basketball player
Gwendal Peizerat -- ice dancer
Marie-José Perec -- athlete
Mary Pierce-- Canadian born French citizen, tennis player
Julien Pillet -- fencer
Michel Platini -- football player
Alain Prost -- automobile racer
Antoine Rigaudeau -- basketball player
Georges Stern -- thoroughbred racing jockey
Marcel Thil -- world champion boxer
Christophe Tiozzo -- world champion boxer
Fabrice Tiozzo -- world champion boxer, Christophe's brother
Damien Touya -- fencer
Patrick Vieira -- Senegal born French citizen, football player
Richard Virenque -- Morocco born French citizen, cyclist
Jean-Pierre Wimille, race car driver
Zinédine Zidane -- football player

Theologians

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, which is a Catholic religious order too.

Marie-Emile Boismard O.P.
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jean Calvin
Sebastian Castellion -- translator of the Bible
Bernard of Clairvaux
Jean Claude
Yves Congar, O.P.
André Gounelle
Pierre Lagrange O.P. -- founder of the Ecole Biblique et Archeologique de Jérusalem
Hubert Languet
Maurice Leenhardt -- ethnologist, theologian
Etienne Mennegoz
Wilfred Monod
Etienne Nodet O.P.
Rachi de Champagne
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S.J.
Auguste Sabatier
Antonin Sertillanges O.P. -- founder of the Revue Thomiste
Bernard Sesboué S.J.

Others

André the Giant, professional wrestler
Paul Bocuse -- chef
Marie-Antoine Carême -- chef, author
Charles Cros -- poet and inventor
Jeanne d'Arc -- (Joan of Arc) warrior, Saint.
Chiboust -- pastry chef
Pierre de Coubertin -- initiator of the modern Olympic Games
Adolf Dugléré -- chef
Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt
Ninon de l'Enclos -- courtesan, patron of the arts
Cavalier de la Salle -- explorer
Marcel Deprez, electrical engineer
Urbain Dubois -- chef
René Dumont -- agronomist engineer and sociologist and ecology activist
Jules Dumont d'Urville
Maurice Duverger -- jurist
Gustave Eiffel -- engineer
Pierre Charles L'Enfant -- planned Washington, D.C.
Charles Michel de l'Épée -- founder of world's first public school for deaf people
Auguste Escoffier -- chef
Marquis de la Fayette -- military leader in the American Revolution
Paul Héroult -- inventor
Victor Hirtzler -- chef
Claude de Jouffroy d'Abbans, designed the first steamship in 1783
Laguipière --chef
René Lalique -- artist
Louis Maurice Adolphe Linant de Bellefonds -- explorer and canal engineer
Auguste and Louis Lumière -- inventors
Jean Paul Marat
Jacques Mayol -- freediver
Marcel Mazoyer -- agronomist
Montgolfier brothers -- balloonists
Jean-Marie Pelt -- botanist
Bernard Pivot
Lionel Poilâne -- boulanger
Charles Ranhofer -- chef
Elisée Reclus -- geographer and anarchist
César Ritz -- hotelier
Maximilien Robespierre
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin -- magician, namesake of "Harry Houdini"
Philippe Starck -- designer
Vatel -- chef
Vauban - engineer