List of Famous people born in France

Baptistin Baille was born as Jean-Baptiste Baille in France, in 1841 and he died in 1918. He was a professor of optics and acoustics at the École de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles in Paris and a close friend of Paul Cézanne, the impressionist artist, and of Émile Zola who would later become a writer.

William-Adolphe Bouguereau was a French academic painter. In his realistic genre paintings he used mythological themes, making modern interpretations of classical subjects, with an emphasis on the female human body. During his life, he enjoyed significant popularity in France and the United States, was given numerous official honors, and received top prices for his work. As the quintessential salon painter of his generation, he was reviled by the Impressionist avant-garde. By the early twentieth century, Bouguereau and his art fell out of favor with the public, due in part to changing tastes. In the 1980s, a revival of interest in figure painting led to a rediscovery of Bouguereau and his work. Throughout the course of his life, Bouguereau executed 822 known finished paintings, although the whereabouts of many are still unknown.

Sylvain Didot is a French football manager and former player who last managed the Ligue 2 side Guingamp.

Kilian Hennessy was a French business magnate of Irish extraction, and co-patriarch, with Maurice his first cousin, of the Hennessy cognac company.

Mary of Burgundy was a Duchess of Savoy by her marriage to Amadeus VIII of Savoy, who was later known as Antipope Felix V.

Jean Robert François Matouk was a French economist, banker, and professor of economics.

François-Xavier Ménage is a French journalist.

Claude de Lorraine, duc de Guise was a French aristocrat and general. He became the first Duke of Guise in 1528.

Renaud Gagneux was a French composer.