List of Famous people born in France

Jean Bodel, was an Old French poet who wrote a number of chansons de geste as well as many fabliaux. He lived in Arras.

Charles Leopold Mayer (1881-1971) was a French biochemist, humanist and materialist philosopher.

Maximilian Spinola was an Italian entomologist.

Jean Terrasson, often referred to as the Abbé Terrasson, was a French priest, author and member of the Académie française. The erudite Antoine Terrasson was his nephew.

Jean Alexandre Michel André Castaigne was a French artist and engraver, a student of Jean-Léon Gérôme and Alexandre Cabanel. Subsequently he became a leading illustrator in the United States. He is often recalled as the original illustrator of the first edition of The Phantom of the Opera.

Victor Fontan was a French cyclist who led the 1929 Tour de France but dropped out after knocking at doors at night to ask for another bicycle. His plight led to a change of rules to prevent its happening again. He was also one of three riders who all wore the yellow jersey of leadership on the same day, the only time it has happened.