#1Michel Marie Claparède
1774–1842French general (1774-1842)
Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Michel Marie Claparède, the French general, is the most widely known, written about in 7 languages. The French politician Jules Montels ranks second, ahead of Paul Pelisse. Over 100 years of births, the list goes from Michel Marie Claparède (1774) to Paul Pelisse (1874). For every 10,000 residents there are 6 on the list, well above the typical Hérault town’s 1.7.
Leaders take two of the three places.
#1French general (1774-1842)
#2French politician (1843–1916)
#3French politician (1874–1938)
The 1770s saw the most births of any decade: 1.
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
Gignac has 3.2× the usual share of leaders.
The usual town: the share across everyone listed in French towns. Tap a field to see its people.
1 more, best known first.
No one matches both filters.
Close by, the fullest list is Clermont-l'Hérault’s, at 7 names.
Cournonterral · 11 miÉmile Blavet & 5 more
Saint-André-de-Sangonis · 2 miJoseph Boussinesq & 2 moreHHPaulhan · 9 miHervé Harant & 1 more
Villeveyrac · 11 miSiméon Flaissières & 1 moreCAVailhauquès · 9 miClaude Azéma
Cournonsec · 11 miRégis Durand
Pignan · 12 miOrianne LopezMichel Marie Claparède (French general (1774-1842)) is the best known by our measure: 7 Wikipedia and sister-site articles in different languages. Next come Jules Montels and Paul Pelisse.
4 people born in Gignac have a French Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace (and an English one that agrees, when there is one). Wikidata places 8 people here; the rest aren’t listed because an article names somewhere else or no town, or a check couldn’t be completed.
Among its famous people, leaders: 3 of the 4. That is 75% of the town’s list, against 24% across French towns.
Michel Marie Claparède, born in 1774. The youngest on the list was born in 1874.
People whose Wikidata birthplace is Gignac itself, matched by its INSEE code (a commune merged into it counts when the dates allow), whose French Wikipedia article agrees, and their English article too when they have one. A hospital or neighbourhood recorded without its commune isn’t matched. People who only lived here, adult performers and people known mainly for crimes aren’t listed.
Their Wikidata birthplace may be a hospital, a neighbourhood or a wider area, another commune, or missing, or their articles may not name a birthplace. We only list people the sources agree on; editing Wikidata or Wikipedia changes this page at the next refresh.
From Wikidata (CC0: birthplaces, descriptions, years, occupations, how many Wikipedia and sister-site articles cover each person) and French and English Wikipedia (each person’s articles confirm the birthplace; linked, not quoted). Birthplaces are matched to the commune by INSEE code and its history of mergers (INSEE COG 2026). Ranked by the number of articles. Fields are read from Wikidata’s description and occupations. “The usual town”: everyone listed across French towns. Portraits: each person’s Wikidata image, from Wikimedia Commons under the license below (our copy, resized).
Contains public sector information under the Licence Ouverte / Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab): INSEE, DGFiP, the Interior Ministry’s statistics service (SSMSI), the Ministry of Education (DEPP), the Health Ministry’s statistics service (DREES) and the Housing Ministry (Carte des loyers). Commune boundaries: IGN Admin Express.