List of Famous people born in France

Jean de La Bruyère was a French philosopher and moralist, who was noted for his satire.

Loïc Leferme was a French diver who was the world free diving record holder until 2 October 2005, when he was surpassed by Herbert Nitsch. Loic was also a founder of AIDA in 1990 with Roland Specker and Claude Chapuis in Nice. In 2002 he set the world free diving record without any breathing apparatus at 162 meters. His first world record was 137 meters (1999). On 30 October 2004, he extended his own world record to 171 meters in the no limits free-diving category. The premier advocate of this type of freediving which has come to be known as Chapuis Style Freediving.

René of Anjou was Duke of Anjou and Count of Provence from 1434 to 1480, who also reigned as King of Naples as René I from 1435 to 1442. Having spent his last years in Aix-en-Provence, he is known in France as the Good King René.

Louis Charles Antoine Desaix was a French general and military leader during the French Revolutionary Wars. According to the usage of the time, he took the name Louis Charles Antoine Desaix de Veygoux.

François-Jean Lefebvre de la Barre was a young French nobleman. He was tortured and beheaded before his body was burnt on a pyre along with Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary nailed to his torso. La Barre is often said to have been executed for not saluting a Roman Catholic religious procession, though other charges of a similar nature were laid against him.

Roland Mesnier is a French-born naturalized American pastry chef and culinary writer. His creations during his twenty five years as Executive Pastry Chef (1979–2004) at the White House earned him the reputation of a creative genius.

Fabien Pelous is a retired French rugby union footballer. A lock who also occasionally played as a number eight and flanker, he played the bulk of his professional career for Stade Toulousain, and is the all-time leader in appearances for the French national team. He retired as the most-capped lock for any nation in rugby history, with 100 of his 118 France appearances at that position, a record later broken by South Africa's Victor Matfield. Pelous was inducted into the World Rugby Hall of Fame in 2017.

Han-Noah Massengo is a French professional footballer who currently plays as a midfielder for Championship side Bristol City.

Sandrine Daudet was a French short track speed skater. She competed at the 1992 Winter Olympics and the 1994 Winter Olympics.

Jean Echenoz is a French writer.