List of Famous people born in France

Emmanuel Maurice de Lorraine was Duke of Elbeuf and Prince of Lorraine. He succeeded his older brother Henri de Lorraine (1661–1748) as duke. He died without any surviving issue.

Antoine Arnauld was a lawyer in the Parlement de Paris, and a Counsellor of State under Henry IV. A skilled orator, his most famous speech was in 1594 in favor of the University of Paris and against the Jesuits, decrying their lack of support for Henry IV, newly converted from Protestantism to Catholicism. He wrote a number of political pamphlets which were widely distributed. The best known of his writings is entitled Le franc et véritable discours du Roi sur le rétablissement qui lui est demandé des Jésuites (1602). He was married to Catherine Marion de Druy and had twenty children by her, ten of whom survived him.

Raymond Péricat was a militant French trade unionist and communist. During World War I (1914–18) he took an internationalist and pacifist position. After the war he tried to establish a radical Communist party that blended Bolshevism with anarchist concepts.

Joseph-Marie-Philippe Lévêque de Vilmorin, generally known as Philippe de Vilmorin, was a noted French botanist and plant collector, and a member of the celebrated Vilmorin family of horticulturists.

Clairette, was a Quebec-based French actress and singer. After her own career slowed down she became the proprietor of Montreal's "Chez Clairette" nightclub. In later life she received official honors for her cultural influence in giving a career break to many up-and-coming entertainers who later became famous.

André Herrero is a former rugby union player. He played for the French Rugby team as a flanker. Herrero is of Spanish descent.

Henri de Raincourt is a French politician who was Minister for Relations with Parliament (2009-2010) and Minister in charge of Co-operation (2010-2012) during Nicolas Sarkozy’s presidency. Previously a Senator representing the Yonne department, he is set to re-join the Senate in June 2012, a month after leaving the Government.

Jean-Marc Fontaine was a French mathematician. He was one of the founders of p-adic Hodge theory. He was a professor at Paris-Sud 11 University from 1988 to his death.

Marc Crépon is a French philosopher and academic who writes on the subject of languages and communities in the French and German philosophies and contemporary political and moral philosophy. He has also translated works by philosophers such as Nietzsche, Franz Rosenzweig and Leibniz.