or french-speaking/writing people
- Andre Marie Ampère -- scientist
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -- author
- Antoine Lavoisier -- scientist
- Blaise Pascal -- scientist and author
- Charles Baudelaire -- author and poet
- Charles de Gaulle -- general and statesman
- Christine de Pizan -- historian, pop philosopher
- Claude Debussy -- composer
- Claude Levi-Strauss -- anthropologist
- Claude Monet -- painter
- Edmond Rostand -- author
- Fermat -- scientist
- François Truffaut --director
- Gustave Eiffel -- engineer
- Henri Poincaré -- scientist
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau -- philosopher and writer
- Jeanne d'Arc -- warrior
- John Calvin -- religious reformer, theologian
- Jules Verne -- author
- Louis Pasteur -- scientist
- Louis XIV -- statesman
- Marie de France -- poet
- Marquis de Sade -- author
- Napoléon Bonaparte -- Emperor
- Napoleon III -- Emperor
- Ninon de l'Enclos -- author and patron of the arts
- René Descartes -- scientist and philosopher
- Victor Hugo -- author and artist
- Viollet le Duc -- architect
- Voltaire -- author
Not as Famous as They Deserve:
- Paul Héroult -- inventor
- Erik Satie -- composer