French people of note include:
For collaboration with Nazi Germany see also the politicians section.
Resistance workers during the German military administration in occupied France during World War II
- Lucie Samuel-Aubrac (1912–2007), human rights activist
- Raymond Aubrac (1914–2012), statesman
- Robert Benoist (1895–1944), SOE operative, champion race car driver
- Denise Bloch (1915–1945), SOE operative: King's Commendation for Brave Conduct, Legion of Honor, French Resistance Medal
- Andrée Borrel (1919–1944), SOE operative: Croix de guerre
- Bernadette Cattanéo (1899–1963), trade unionist and communist activist
- Madeleine Damerment (1917–1944), SOE operative: Legion of Honor, Croix de guerre, Médaille combattant volontaire de la Résistance
- Marie Louise Dissard (1880–1957), U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient
- William Grover-Williams (1903–1945), SOE operative, champion race car driver
- Aimée Lallement (1898–1988), Righteous Among the Nations
- Cecily Lefort (1900–1945), SOE operative: Croix de guerre
- Pierre Mendès France (1907–1982), lawyer, statesman
- Jean Moulin (1899–1943), statesman
- Agnès de La Barre de Nanteuil (1922–1944), assisted allied airmen
- Abbé Pierre (1912–2007), priest and founder of Emmaus
- Christian Pineau (1904–1995), statesman
- Eliane Plewman (1917–1944), SOE operative: Croix de guerre
- Germaine Ribière (1917–1999), Righteous among the Nations
- Élise Rivet (1890–1945), nun executed by Nazis for aiding the resistance
- Lilian Rolfe (1914–1945), SOE agent executed by the Nazis
- Odette Sansom (1912–1995), SOE operative: George Cross, MBE, Legion of Honor
- Suzanne Spaak, Belgian-born agent: "Red Orchestra" intelligence network; executed 1944
- Violette Szabo (1921–1945), SOE operative: George Cross, Croix de guerre
- Jean-Pierre Wimille (1908–1949), SOE operative, champion race car driver
O.P. (Ordo Praedicatorum) is the abbreviation used to indicate that someone is/was a member of the Dominican Order, a Catholic religious order.
S.J. (Societas Iesu) is the abbreviation used to indicate that someone is/was a member of the Society of Jesus, another Catholic religious order.
- Jean Arnauld, philosopher and theologian
- Denis Bérardier, priest and theologian
- Marie-Émile Boismard O.P.
- Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet
- Jean Calvin
- Sebastian Castellio, translator of the Bible
- Pierre Cauchon, condemned Joan of Arc
- Robert Ciboule, Roman Catholic theologian
- Bernard of Clairvaux
- Jean Claude
- Yves Congar, O.P.
- Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, O.P.
- Hubert Languet
- Maurice Leenhardt, ethnologist, theologian
- Jean Louail, theologian
- André Paul, scholar in the fields of theology, biblical studies and ancient Judaism
- François Picquet, 18th-century missionary in New France
- Jean Porthaise, theologian
- Alexander de Rhodes S.J., 17th-century missionary to Indochina
- Richard of Saint-Laurent, canon at Rouen
- Auguste Sabatier
- Antonin Sertillanges O.P., founder of the Revue Thomiste
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin S.J.
- Simon-Michel Treuvé