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A French American or Franco-American is a citizen of the United States of America of French descent and heritage. The majority of Franco-American families did not arrive directly from France, but rather settled French territories in the New World (primarily in the 17th and 18th centuries) before moving to the United States later on (see Quebec emigration and Great Upheaval). About thirteen million U.S. residents are of French descent, and about 1.5 million of them speak the French language at home.

The following is a list of notable French Americans:

Entertainment

Adrienne Barbeau (1945 - ) 1980s B-movie actress^[1]
Leslie Caron (1931 - ) film actress and dancer^[2]
Claudette Colbert (1903 - 1996) Academy Award-winning actress^[2]^[3]
Bud Cort (1948 - ) actor^[4]
Julie Delpy (1969 - ) actress^[5]
Arielle Dombasle (1958 - ) singer and actress working primarily in the Cinema of France^[6]
Robert Goulet (1933 - ) actor/singer^[7]
Christopher Lambert (1957 - ) actor ^[8]
Taylor Lautner (1992 - ) actor/martial artist^[9]
Christopher Meloni (1961 - ) actor^[10]

Historical figures

Philip Danforth Armour (1832 - 1901) businessman involved in meat packing industry^[2]
John James Audubon (1785 - 1851) ornithologist, naturalist, and painter^[11]
Benjamin Bonneville (1796 - 1878) officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West^[12]
Elias Boudinot (1740 - 1821) early American statesman^[13]
Eugene V. Debs (1855 - 1926) labor and political leader, one of the founders of the international labor union the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and five-time Socialist Party of America candidate for President of the United States^[2]
René Dubos (1901 - 1982) microbiologist, experimental pathologist, environmentalist, humanist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author^[14]^[2]
Rene Gagnon (1925 - 1979) one of the U.S. Marines immortalized in the famous World War II photograph (by Joe Rosenthal) of the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima^[15]
Pierre Charles L'Enfant (1754 - 1825) architect and urban planner^[16]
Alexander McGillivray (1750 - 1793) leader of the Creek Indians^[17]
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1929 - 1994) former First Lady of the United States^[2]^[18]
Paul Revere (1734/1735 - 1818) silversmith and a patriot in the American Revolution^[19]
Daniel Roberdeau (1727 - 1795) merchant^[20]
Pierre Salinger (1925 - 2004) White House Press Secretary to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson^[21]^[2]
John Sevier (1745 - 1815) served four years as the only governor of the State of Franklin and twelve years as governor of Tennessee, and as a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1811 until his death^[22]

Law and politics

Kathleen Blanco (1942 - ) Louisiana Governor^[23]
Tom DeLay (1947 - ) former Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Sugar Land, Texas, the former House Majority Leader, prominent member of the Republican Party^[24]
Robert M. La Follette, Sr. (1855 - 1925) politician who served as a U.S. Congressman, the 20th Governor of Wisconsin from 1901 - 1906, and Senator from Wisconsin from 1905 - 1925 as a member of the Republican Party^[2]

Literature

Stephen Vincent Benét (1898 - 1943) author, poet, short story writer and novelist^[2]
John Dufresne - author^[25]
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739 - 1817) writer, economist and statesman^[26]^[2]
Will Durant (1885 - 1981) philosopher, historian, and writer^[27]
Jack Kerouac (1922 - 1969) novelist, writer, poet, artist, and part of the Beat Generation^[28]
Sidney Lanier (1842 - 1881) musician and poet^[2]
Grace Metalious (1924 - 1964) author, best known for Peyton Place^[29]
Henry David Thoreau (1817 - 1862) author, development critic, naturalist, transcendentalist, pacifist, tax resister and philosopher who is famous for Walden (on simple living amongst nature), Civil Disobedience, Resistance to Civil Government, and many other articles and essays^[2]

Military

Stephen Decatur (1779 - 1820) naval officer notable for his heroism in actions at Tripoli, Libya in the Barbary Wars and in the War of 1812^[2]
Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette (1757 - 1834) aristocrat, considered a national hero in both France and the United States for his participation in the French and American revolutions for which he became an Honorary Citizen of the United States.^[2]

Miscellaneous

Jean Lafitte (1780? - 1826?) Gulf of Mexico pirate^[2]
Triple H (1969 - ) professional wrestler^[30]

References

Footnotes

^ [1] "Half French-Canadian and half Armenian, she grew up in California during the 1950s."
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o [2]
^ [3] "Born September 13, 1903 in Paris as Claudette Lily Chauchoin, Claudette moved with her family to the United States when she was only three."
^ [4] "Half Irish, half French-Canadian, half English."
^ [5] "Julie Delpy is one of the most popular French actresses..." [6] "She became a U.S. citizen three years ago, while retaining her French citizenship."
^ [7] "The story of French actress Arielle Dombasle’s life is like something from another era, a time that exists in old movies and Harlequin romances"
^ [8] "Famous French-Canadian author Robert Goulet..."
^ [9] [10]
^ [11] "I am only French, Dutch and German. I get my skin color from the French side of my family."
^ [12] "Meloni, who is half-Italian and half-French Canadian, says that he was surprised to find similarities between the Carbone family and his own."
^ [13] "John James Audubon, b. Apr. 26, 1785, d. Jan. 27, 1851, was a French-American ornithologist..."
^ [14]
^ [15] "The Boudinot family were French Huguenots who fled France and then England after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes"
^ [16]
^ [17] "French-Canadian flag raiser" [18] "Rene Gagnon, child of French Canadian mill workers in Manchester, NH"
^ [19]
^ [20] "French-Indian who became the principal chief of the Creek Indians in the years following the American Revolution."
^ [21]"It as an element that pointed to Jacqueline Kennedy's pride in her French Bouvier ancestry, her profound love of history, and her particuarly affinity with the eighteenth century."
^ [22] "French American craftsman" [23]"His father, a French Huguenot, raised him. His father's name was Apollos Rivoire."
^ [24] "Daniel Roberdeau—a wealthy French American, congressman..."
^ [25] "He then became a French correspondent and later Paris bureau chief for ABC News." [26]
^ [27] "John Sevier - French Hugenot"
^ [28] "she was nicknamed the "Cajun Grandma" and won the election to become the top elected official in the state." [29] ""So many people in Louisiana actually speak French every day and feel French, and I think they're a little disappointed about the situation," says Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a French Acadian whose maiden name was Babineaux. "We're looking at a 200-year historical time when France was our greatest ally.""
^ [30] ""I trust that you do know Mr. DeLay is French," she said."
^ [31] "Nathan Leslie: John, do you think your French Canadian background has influenced your writing? If so, how? John Dufresne: It is this primal landscape that shapes us as it shapes the characters in our stories. "You write from where you are," William Stafford said. I write from being a French Canadian/American who grew up on what had been called French Hill until the Irish and Italians muscled us out. And then it was Grafton Hill. Novelist David Plante, author of novels about growing up French Canadian not far from my home, says: "Franco-American culture is gone, and perhaps the only way to have written about it was to believe it was over even while it was being written about. Les vrais paradis sont les paradis perdus might have been said by Proust about an entirely different world, but it applies--with the difference that the Franco past was never a paradise." Grafton Hill was in the fifties and sixties as exclusively Catholic and blue collar as neighborhoods get. Jobs ran to the trades, factories, and public service. There were no dancers or brain surgeons, actors, or professors among the French Canadians on the Hill."
^ [32] "French economist..."
^ [33] "Will Durant was French-Canadian and a Roman Catholic who had become skeptical of religion."
^ [34] "Jack Kerouac was born Jean-Louis Kerouac, a French-Canadian child on March 12, 1922 in working-class Lowell, Massachusetts."
^ [35] "When it was released in 1956, PEYTON PLACE, the debut novel by French Canadian Grace Metalious..."
^ [36] ""the French guy" in World Championship Wrestling"

[1] [1] "Half French-Canadian and half Armenian, she grew up in California during the 1950s."

[french-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o [2]

[3] [3] "Born September 13, 1903 in Paris as Claudette Lily Chauchoin, Claudette moved with her family to the United States when she was only three."

[4] [4] "Half Irish, half French-Canadian, half English."

[5] [5] "Julie Delpy is one of the most popular French actresses..." [6] "She became a U.S. citizen three years ago, while retaining her French citizenship."

[6] [7] "The story of French actress Arielle Dombasle’s life is like something from another era, a time that exists in old movies and Harlequin romances"

[7] [8] "Famous French-Canadian author Robert Goulet..."

[8] [9] [10]

[9] [11] "I am only French, Dutch and German. I get my skin color from the French side of my family."

[10] [12] "Meloni, who is half-Italian and half-French Canadian, says that he was surprised to find similarities between the Carbone family and his own."

[11] [13] "John James Audubon, b. Apr. 26, 1785, d. Jan. 27, 1851, was a French-American ornithologist..."

[12] [14]

[13] [15] "The Boudinot family were French Huguenots who fled France and then England after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes"

[14] [16]

[15] [17] "French-Canadian flag raiser" [18] "Rene Gagnon, child of French Canadian mill workers in Manchester, NH"

[16] [19]

[17] [20] "French-Indian who became the principal chief of the Creek Indians in the years following the American Revolution."

[18] [21]"It as an element that pointed to Jacqueline Kennedy's pride in her French Bouvier ancestry, her profound love of history, and her particuarly affinity with the eighteenth century."

[19] [22] "French American craftsman" [23]"His father, a French Huguenot, raised him. His father's name was Apollos Rivoire."

[20] [24] "Daniel Roberdeau—a wealthy French American, congressman..."

[21] [25] "He then became a French correspondent and later Paris bureau chief for ABC News." [26]

[22] [27] "John Sevier - French Hugenot"

[23] [28] "she was nicknamed the "Cajun Grandma" and won the election to become the top elected official in the state." [29] ""So many people in Louisiana actually speak French every day and feel French, and I think they're a little disappointed about the situation," says Lt. Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a French Acadian whose maiden name was Babineaux. "We're looking at a 200-year historical time when France was our greatest ally.""

[24] [30] ""I trust that you do know Mr. DeLay is French," she said."

[25] [31] "Nathan Leslie: John, do you think your French Canadian background has influenced your writing? If so, how? John Dufresne: It is this primal landscape that shapes us as it shapes the characters in our stories. "You write from where you are," William Stafford said. I write from being a French Canadian/American who grew up on what had been called French Hill until the Irish and Italians muscled us out. And then it was Grafton Hill. Novelist David Plante, author of novels about growing up French Canadian not far from my home, says: "Franco-American culture is gone, and perhaps the only way to have written about it was to believe it was over even while it was being written about. Les vrais paradis sont les paradis perdus might have been said by Proust about an entirely different world, but it applies--with the difference that the Franco past was never a paradise." Grafton Hill was in the fifties and sixties as exclusively Catholic and blue collar as neighborhoods get. Jobs ran to the trades, factories, and public service. There were no dancers or brain surgeons, actors, or professors among the French Canadians on the Hill."

[26] [32] "French economist..."

[27] [33] "Will Durant was French-Canadian and a Roman Catholic who had become skeptical of religion."

[28] [34] "Jack Kerouac was born Jean-Louis Kerouac, a French-Canadian child on March 12, 1922 in working-class Lowell, Massachusetts."

[29] [35] "When it was released in 1956, PEYTON PLACE, the debut novel by French Canadian Grace Metalious..."

[30] [36] ""the French guy" in World Championship Wrestling"

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@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 *[[Claudette Colbert]] (1903 - 1996) Academy Award-winning actress<ref name="french" /><ref>[http://www.classicmovies.org/articles/aa090901a.htm] "Born September 13, 1903 in Paris as Claudette Lily Chauchoin, Claudette moved with her family to the United States when she was only three."</ref>
 *[[Bud Cort]] (1948 - ) actor<ref>[http://www.geocities.com/budcortfanclub/Dec13-191984.html] "Half Irish, half French-Canadian, half English."</ref>
-*[[Arielle Dombasle]] (1958 - ) singer and actress working primarily in the Cinema of France<ref>[http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/index.cfm/fuseaction/current.press_release/project_id/258.cfm] "The story of French actress Arielle Dombasle’s life is like something from another era, a time that exists in old movies and Harlequin romances"</ref>
 *[[Julie Delpy]] (1969 - ) actress<ref>[http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=18491] "Julie Delpy is one of the most popular French actresses..." [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/11/04/DDGJR9KHTB1.DTL] "She became a U.S. citizen three years ago, while retaining her French citizenship."</ref>
+*[[Arielle Dombasle]] (1958 - ) singer and actress working primarily in the Cinema of France<ref>[http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/index.cfm/fuseaction/current.press_release/project_id/258.cfm] "The story of French actress Arielle Dombasle’s life is like something from another era, a time that exists in old movies and Harlequin romances"</ref>
 *[[Robert Goulet]] (1933 - ) actor/singer<ref>[http://www.thevineyardpress.com/catalogue.html] "Famous French-Canadian author Robert Goulet..."</ref>
 *[[Christopher Lambert]] (1957 - ) actor <ref>[http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=40134] [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800073272]</ref>