List of French people

Encyclopedia : L : LI : LIS : List of French people

This is a list of French people.

Contents

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

M-N

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)
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
Roger Peyrefitte
Jean Piaget - psychologist
Christine de Pizan, historian, poet, philosopher
Jacques Prévert -- 20th century poet
Abbé Prévost
Marcel Prevost
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

S-Z

Marquis de Sade -- erotic and philosophic author
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve
George Sand -- feminist author
Jean Paul Sartre -- 20th century existentialist philosopher
Nathalie Sarraute
Pierre Seel, homosexual survivor of the concentration camps, activist, author
Victor Segalen
Madame de Sévigné
Madame de Staël
Antoine de Saint-Exupery, humanist author and aviators.
Claude Simon
Stendhal -- novelist (born Henry Beyle)
François Truffaut -- 20th century filmaker
Paul Valéry -- 20th century poet
Vercors
Paul Verlaine -- symbolist poet
Jules Verne -- novelist
Boris Vian -- 20th century author
Alfred de Vigny -- 19th century poet
François Villon
Marguerite Yourcenar
Émile Zola -- naturalist author

Aviators

Clément Ader
Jacqueline Auriol
Louis Blériot
Henry Farman
Georges Guynemer
Joseph Le Brix
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, one of the richest persons in Europe
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 (19..-1997), import-export
Léon Gaumont, pioneer film inventor
Paul-Louis Halley (1934-2004), supermarket tycoon
Max Hymans (1900-1961), aviation
Gérard LeBlond (born 1956), founder and publisher of West-Gate Publishing
Jean-Marie Messier (born 1957), former Vivendi CEO
Gérard Mestrallet (born 1949), Chairman and CEO of SUEZ
Gérard Mulliez, entrepreneur (Auchan, Decathlon, Flunch...), whose family is considered as one of the richest in Europe
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

Chefs

Colonial administrators

Félix Éboué - Governor general of French Equatorial Africa
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 - Canada

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
Henri Duparc
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
Gabriel Pierné
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
Florent Schmitt
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
Zacarias Moussaoui
Maurice Papon -- politician and war criminal
Marcel Petiot -- serial killer
Jean-Claude Romand -- murderer
Albert Spaggiari
Paul Touvier -- One of only two Frenchman to be convicted of crimes against humanity

Dancers

See also Moulin Rouge and Folies Bergeres

Economists

Maurice Allais, Nobel Prize
Raymond Barre — Economist and Politician
Frederic Bastiat
Marcel Boiteux
Fernand Braudel
Jules Dupuit
Gerard Debreu — Nobel memorial prize 1983
Dominique Guellec
Jean-Jacques Laffont
Alain Lipietz — green economist
François Quesnay
Pascal Salin
Jean-Baptiste Say
Turgot

Fashion

Liliane Bettencourt, majority owner of L'Oreal, one of the wealthiest people in Europe
Pierre Cardin -- Fashion Designer
Coco Chanel -- fashion designer
Edouard de Givenchy
Christian Dior -- fashion designer
Julien Fournié
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)
Lestat de Lioncourt -- infamous vampire creation of Anne Rice
Louis de Pointe du Lac -- French-born vampire companion of Lestat de Lioncourt
Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) -- Captain of three Federation starships within one television series and four motion pictures
Erik,The Phantom of the Opera (Gaston Leroux)) -- The "Opera Ghost" who haunted the Palais Garnier.
Vicomte Raoul de Chagny (Gaston Leroux) -- Childhood friend of Christine Daae and brother of Comte Phillipe. Competed for the affections of Christine Daae with Erik.
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?
Cpl. Louis LeBeau -- POW, Stalag 13
Inspector Jacques Clouseau -- The bumbling French detective, and star of the Pink Panther movies.

Filmmakers

Humorists

Coluche
Jean-Marie Bigard
Francis Blanche
Pierre Dac humorist and Resistance worker
Pierre Desproges
Franck Dubosc
Thierry Le Luron

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
Charles-Marie David de Mayréna I -- King of the Kingdom of Sedang

Musicians, singers

Air_(band)
Charles Aznavour
Josephine Baker, American born entertainer
Jane Bathori, opera singer
Barbara
Guy Béart
Michel Berger
Lucienne Boyer
Georges Brassens
Aristide Bruant
Manu Chao
Daft Punk
Dalida
Damia
Marie Dubas
Jacques Dutronc
Léo Ferré
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 - born in Belgium, served in the French army
David Hallyday
Françoise Hardy
Joëlle
Kassav'
Kiki -- "Queen of Montparnasse"
La Goulue
Gérard LeBlond - musician, drummer and author
Claudine Longet
Luis Mariano
Anna Marly
Didier Marouani — musician and composer
Félix Mayol
Mireille Mathieu
Mireille
Mistinguett
Ginette Neveu
Yannick Noah
Noir Désir
Vanessa Paradis
Pierre Perret
Patricia Kaas
Michel Petrucciani
Édith Piaf
Lily Pons — opera singer (naturalized as a U.S. citizen in 1940)
Tino Rossi
Jean Sablon
Alain Souchon
Charles Trenet
Sylvie Vartan
Pauline Garcia-Viardot — opera singer & composer
Jossé Lajoie

Painters

Philosophers

Louis Althusser
Raymond Aron — sociologist & philosopher
Jean le Rond d'Alembert
Gaston Bachelard
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
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
Edgar Morin
Emmanuel Mounier -- philosopher
Jean Luc Nancy -- philosopher
Blaise Pascal -- scientist, Christian philosopher and author
Jean-François Revel
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
François Bayrou -- UDF party leader
Léon Blum
José Bové -- altermondialist
Aristide Briand
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
François Hollande -- PS (Socialist Party) leader
Jean Jaurès, politician, pacifist
Lionel Jospin
Bernard Kouchner -- founder of Medecins du Monde and other "French Doctors"
Jean-Marie Le Pen -- Leader of the extreme right party in France, Front National
Jean-Claude Martinez, lawyer and european deputy
Émile Loubet, President of France that elected in 1899, after the death of Félix Faure
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
Nicolas Sarkozy -- President of the right wing party
Victor Schoelcher -- anti-slavery activist
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
Maurice Thorez
Jacques Toubon
Dominique de Villepin, Prime Minister of France
Dominique Voynet -- Physician and Green politician

Popes

See List of French popes

Resistance workers

Resistance workers during the German occupation of France in World War II

Lucie Samuel-Aubrac(born 1912), 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
Abbé Pierre (1912- ), Priest and founder of Emmaus
Christian Pineau(1904-1995), statesman
Eliane Plewman (1917-1944), SOE operative: Croix de Guerre
Germaine Ribière (1917-1999)
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

D-N

Jean Dausset, biologist, Nobel prize winner 1980
Guillaume Delisle, cartographer
René Descartes -- scientist and philosopher
Girard Desargues -- mathematician
Georges Duby -- historian
Pierre de Fermat -- mathematician
Joseph Fourier -- mathematician and physicist
Pierre Gassendi -- philosopher mathematician
Pierre-Gilles de Gennes -- physicist, Nobel prize winner 1991
Évariste Galois -- mathematician
Camille Guérin, biologist
François Jacob -- biologist, Nobel prize winner 1965
Frédéric Joliot -- physicist, Nobel prize winner 1935
Joseph Louis Lagrange -- mathematician
Pierre-Simon Laplace -- mathematician and physicist
Antoine Lavoisier
Gérard LeBlond -- biochemist, molecular biologist
Jean-Marie Lehn -- chemist, Nobel prize winner in 1987
Claude Lévi-Strauss, anthropologist
Antoine Lévi-Leblond -- physicist
André Lwoff -- biologist, Nobel prize winner 1965
Marcelin Berthelot, chemist
Albert Mathiez -- historian
André Michaux -- botanist and explorer
Jules Michelet -- historian
Abraham de Moivre -- mathematician
Jacques Monod -- biologist, Nobel prize winner 1965
Theodore Monod -- naturalist and theologian
Claude Mossé -- (Ms), historian
Louis Néel -- physicist, Nobel prize winner 1970

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
Samir Kassir -- journalist
Pierre Seel, homosexual survivor of the concentration camps, activist, author
Séverine -- feminist
Flora Tristan -- feminist

Soldiers

Athletes

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
André Fabre -- horse trainer
Laurent Fignon -- cyclist
Just Fontaine -- football player
Jacques Fouroux -- rugby union player and coach
Pierre Galle -- basketball player -- basketball coach
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
Zinedine 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, another Catholic religious order.

Marie-Emile Boismard O.P.
Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
Jean Calvin
Sebastian Castellion -- translator of the Bible
Pierre Cauchon -- condemned Joan of Arc
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
Alexandre de Rhodes S.J. -- 17th c. missionary to Indochina
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
Louis Braille, blind inventor
Charles Cros, poet and inventor
Jeanne d'Arc (Joan of Arc), commander and Saint
André Charles Boulle, cabinet maker
Pierre de Coubertin, initiator of the modern Olympic Games
Edmond Louis Antoine Huot de Goncourt
Ninon de l'Enclos, courtesan, patron of the arts
Cavalier de la Salle, explorer
Marcel Deprez, electrical engineer
René Dumont, agronomist engineer and sociologist and ecology activist
Jules Dumont d'Urville
Maurice Duverger, jurist
Jean-Baptiste Ebrard, founder of Liverpool, a chain of department stores in Mexico
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
Marquis de la Fayette,- military leader in the American Revolution
Paul Héroult, inventor
Claude de Jouffroy d'Abbans, designed the first steamship in 1783
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
Elisée Reclus, geographer and anarchist
César Ritz, hotelier
Maximilien Robespierre
Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, magician, namesake of "Harry Houdini"
Pierre Seel, homosexual survivor of the concentration camps, activist, author
Philippe Starck, designer
Vauban, engineer
François Henri de la Motte, French spy executed for treason 1781 in London