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Famous French People

Can you name these famous French people, past and present?
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: January 10, 2020
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First submittedSeptember 6, 2012
Times taken23,872
Average score63.6%
Rating4.11
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Clue
French Person
"Sun King"
Louis XIV
Became king of the Franks in 768
Charlemagne
Corsican conqueror of Europe
Napoleon
One-name Enlightenment philosopher
Voltaire
Leader of Free France in WWII
Charles de Gaulle
"Les Misérables"
Victor Hugo
Head-butting World Cup captain
Zinedine Zidane
Developed a process for
making milk safer
Louis Pasteur
Female warrior, burned at the stake
Joan of Arc
Painted water lillies
Claude Monet
Radioactive scientist and first
female Nobelist
Marie Curie
Clue
French Person
"Giant" of pro wrestling
Andre the Giant
Designer with a No. 5 perfume
Coco Chanel
French President since 2017
Emmanuel Macron
Undersea explorer
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
"The Second Sex"
Simone de Beauvoir
"Incorruptible" and
bloodthirsty revolutionary
Maximilien
de Robespierre
He thought, therefore he was
René Descartes
"Madame Bovary"
Gustave Flaubert
Considered the first French king
Clovis
Duke of Normandy
and conqueror of England
William
the Conqueror
"Nothing But the Beat" DJ
David Guetta
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63 Comments
hesasmartone
+5
Level 45
Oct 20, 2012
Pardon my French, but where the hell is Jules Verne? He is without a doubt one of the most famous and relevant Frenchmen in history.
What
+9
Level 27
Oct 20, 2012
Still less important than Molière and Balzac, which aren't on the list either. It's just a selection, and not a bad one.
Ozchris
+1
Level 33
Mar 29, 2013
Where does it say it's a list of every single famous French person? IF you don't like the list... write your own quiz. (Then watch everyone else come in and criticise it.)
Jerry928
+1
Level 76
Jul 6, 2014
All right, I have: Famous French People #2. I wonder who I missed out...
brandybuck96
+1
Level 83
Nov 17, 2023
He's definitely one of the most famous (most published author in the world I believe??) but even as a fan of his I'm not sure I'd describe him as 'relevant'
FentonsDad
+8
Level 87
Oct 20, 2012
I was in Poland this summer, and it was obvious that they are very proud of Marie Curie (along with Copernicus and Chopin). I can imagine some hurt feelings there when you make her French.
Ozchris
+1
Level 33
Dec 25, 2012
I was just about to say the same. My Polish ex gf would turn in her grave if she heard someone was calling Curie Polish. (Not that my ex is dead on anything.) :)
hwes
+1
Level 86
Aug 19, 2013
Yeah my ex would kill me if I said Curie was French ... not too mention Chopin, who my half Polish daughter reveres
Cedo
+2
Level 39
Dec 5, 2015
Chopin's father was french himself. Poland can totally be proud of Marie Curie, but at the time coming in France was her only way to work as a physicist.
PoetsCorner
+2
Level 87
Jan 8, 2022
It's amazing how many people on JetPunk don't believe in dual citizenship.
TheWombat
+2
Level 73
Oct 10, 2013
As they should be. She was still French, though. She certainly kept hold of her Polish heritage (the first element she discovered was Polonium, named after Poland), but she was also a naturalised French citizen and she was buried in France as a French hero (in a lead casket, I hope). I expect when I'm famous and appearing on JetPunk quizzes there will arguments about whether I'm British or Australian. For the record, I'm Australian, but I have no problem with the British worshiping me as well.
smartcookie17
+1
Level 45
Jul 3, 2014
dunkinggandalf, you are SO lucky...
kalbahamut
+1
Level 81
Jul 28, 2019
Why was drunken gandalf purged? I know that he did not author any quizzes. And he might have been inactive for a year. But I thought the rule was that you had to fit both of those criteria and also be below a certain level like level 5 or 15 or something.

Did he delete his account himself?

divantilya
+1
Level 36
Oct 21, 2016
Ok, let's compromise. If she were in America we could refer to her

as Polish - American. Since she was in France instead, how about referring to her as Francolish or Polarance. Does that satisfy you ?

Stayn
+2
Level 52
Jun 4, 2024
i think people should realise you can be multiples nationalities at the same time
alberici
+1
Level 74
Oct 21, 2012
Great quiz. It would be amazing to have more of these but with other nationalities.
wolfiee
+1
Level 74
May 29, 2013
Chopin, like Curie, is also Polish. Agree with Ozchris that the list had no pretensions to being exhaustive, thus complaints about left out figures should be a moot point. But still...no Proust? Arguably, he wrote the greatest work of literature in any language...
vazilega
+1
Level 27
Apr 22, 2014
Very simple: As soon as she married Pierre Curie she became french, before her wedding she was polish and her name was Maria Skłodowska. If you call her Marie Curie she is french.
Cedo
+3
Level 39
Dec 5, 2015
No, she stayed polish as well, and she used both names.
travelfan
+1
Level 67
May 4, 2014
THANK YOU SO MUCH for asking the proper spelling for "De Gaulle" and not leaving me (again) with the last "LE" in the box that I need to erase! It annoys me every time. It's not like it's a difficult name to spell, and not like there are any alternate spellings, either. I completely blanked out on Robespierre. For some reason I can never remember his name. And I think I tried every Merovingian king name I cold remember (Childebert,Childeric, Dagobert...) but somehow never remembered Clovis. Lol!
Islandcarver
+1
Level 81
Nov 12, 2014
Andre the Giant was Canadian.
Cedo
+2
Level 39
Dec 5, 2015
fail.
Pemphredo
+5
Level 22
Dec 18, 2014
Thanks for this quiz. As a french woman, I'll be very proud if Marie Curie was french... but she wasn't. You can replace her with her husband Pierre maybe (they both work hard!)
Cedo
+3
Level 39
Dec 5, 2015
And you'd be insulting all the people naturalized french...
wielblad
+1
Level 66
May 17, 2020
Many of whom don't consider themselves French. There is a difference between citizenship and nationality.
McCoy
+1
Level 61
Apr 17, 2015
Please try out my quizz about famous germans:

http://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/51892/famous-people-from-germany

WelshWizard
+3
Level 86
May 11, 2015
Marie Curie is Polish. I bet no-one except maybe a small few French people consider her French.
Cedo
+3
Level 39
Dec 5, 2015
when you get the french nationality, you are french. Other consideration would be insulting. She was both polish and french and apparently it was much easier for her to deal with than it is for you.
Stayn
+1
Level 52
Jun 4, 2024
actually a lot of people forget she was polish at all. But she was both french and polish, you can be multiple nationalities at the same time
Duzza
+1
Level 33
May 11, 2015
Marie Curie was Polish not French, living in Paris does not make you French
Quizmaster
+10
Level ∞
May 11, 2015
Well maybe they should dig her out of the Pantheon. Broaden your mind! You're not forever tied to the piece of soil where you were born. Marie Curie is Polish AND French.
Thorvald
+1
Level 72
May 26, 2015
She was Polish and proud of that. She donated radium for Polish institutes, she helped polish politicians fighting for our independence. She underlined her Polish heritage. Simply marrying someone of a different nationality, obtaining citizenship and working there does not make someone a different person.
Cedo
+2
Level 39
Dec 5, 2015
being polish and pround of that doesn't make it impossible to be french. Are you arguing with Marie Curie's dead body?
Arp2600
+3
Level 87
May 11, 2015
Cousteau's first name was Jacques-Yves, not just Jacques.
Lucasaar
+3
Level 66
May 11, 2015
André The Giant? I'm French and I can assure you he's absolutely unknown here! (but apparently he's famous in the US...)
Dechnord
+1
Level 76
Oct 28, 2015
I agree : I'm french and I heard about him for the first time on this website !
Cedo
+1
Level 39
Dec 5, 2015
Still, he is famous.
PoetsCorner
+1
Level 87
Jan 8, 2022
I'm not much of a sports fan - and definitely not a wrestling fan - but I've always loved the story that, when Andre the Giant was a kid, Samuel Beckett used to drive him to school in a jeep because he was too big to fit inside the schoolbus.

Since Beckett was a protegee of James Joyce, we now have a direct line of mentorship from Joyce to Andre. I find that delightful.

mwierenga
+2
Level 87
May 11, 2015
Too franco-centric.
Sulps
+1
Level 56
May 12, 2015
Karl the Great (Charlemagne) and Chlodovech (Clovis) weren't French, they were Frankish. The Franks were actually a tribe of Germans, unrelated to the French.
Cedo
+5
Level 39
Dec 5, 2015
... You should check your facts, or at least your conclusions. Historically, France is partly a germanic country. Charlemagne being a monarch in the history of several modern countries, France and Germany included. Why do you think France is called France?
kalbahamut
+3
Level 81
May 7, 2016
I thought it was because they like french fries there.
Thorvald
+2
Level 72
May 26, 2015
Nice quiz, but I second all the comments complaining about regarding Maria Skłodowska-Curie as French. There have been many French scientists or other famous persons to choose from.

Nevertheless, check put my "Famous Polish people" quiz: http://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/97363/famous-poles

Malbaby
+1
Level 70
Dec 10, 2015
William the conqueror was really of Viking heritage as were the 'Norsemen' or Normans.

Napoleon did not conquer Europe, only part of it.

ChriSLIAB
+4
Level 55
Dec 20, 2019
btw Quizmaster, can you accept "Guillaume le Conquérent" aswell as William since that's how he's known in french History ?
joez
+1
Level 75
Dec 18, 2015
Never heard of Zinedine Zidane, yet more people know him than Voltaire or William the Conqueror. Strange world we live in.
DonTheLamplighter
+6
Level 85
Aug 19, 2017
Marco Materazzi has heard of him, I can assure you.
Usara
+2
Level 16
Oct 19, 2016
I'm French and was really surprised to see Andre the Giant in this list. I know him (Princess Bride !) but he is not that famous in France.

I didn't get Pasteur. He is mostly known for the discovery of the first vaccine against rabies. But then, I guess I didn't used my brain to wonder where does "pasteurization" comes from...

So funny to see people arguing about Marie Curie :D In France, we consider her Polish AND French.

PoetsCorner
+3
Level 87
Jan 8, 2022
Because she WAS Polish and French. The number of people who are trying to insist that dual citizenship doesn't exist is quite shocking to me. I wonder at their motives.
leontodon
+1
Level 71
Jul 8, 2024
I don't think their motives are sinister: commenters here are hugely into trivia quizzes, so we very much want everything to fit neatly into exactly one category, and we get upset when reality spoils the elegance of our quiz themes.
HectorVortac
+1
Level 47
Oct 21, 2016
It's been at least a year since someone said Marie Curie is Polish.
PoetsCorner
+1
Level 87
Mar 14, 2017
Too U.S.-centric!
OfficerDibble
+4
Level 82
Feb 20, 2019
Funnily enough I suspect there's some truth in that. It's a very odd list, from a European perspective - no Moliere, no Racine, no film stars, no singers. But it may well be a fair reflection of which French people are most famous in the States.
PoetsCorner
+2
Level 87
Jan 8, 2022
We're coming up on Moliere's 400th birthday in a couple of days. And sure, a few film stars would be nice (Belmondo and Bardot for instance) but I have no problem with a list of people who are more famous internationally than domestically.
kenpo17
+6
Level 66
Nov 18, 2017
Needs less David Guetta and more Daft Punk.
ubsaral
+1
Level 86
Feb 17, 2018
Hollande is no longer French President. It is Macron now.
Quizmaster
+1
Level ∞
Feb 18, 2018
Updated
eibi
+2
Level 80
Sep 5, 2018
If you want a truly French (and truly famous) giant, there's Depardieu...
rosco359
+3
Level 66
Feb 24, 2019
Please accept Guillaume for William!
Aloha19
+1
Level 51
Jun 25, 2019
Same here!
Aaron197
+2
Level 74
Sep 29, 2019
I was hoping to see Edith Piaf in the least.
Amilcar
+3
Level 68
Feb 12, 2024
Slightly depressing to see Simone de Beauvoir as the least guessed answer here.
Valyrias
+1
Level 47
Sep 24, 2024
let's not forget she was a p*do :)
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