Volney
1757–1820French philosopher, historian, orientalist, and politician (1757-1820)
Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Photo: Andegave 999 · CC0With articles in 34 languages, Volney is the most widely known. Second and third on the list are Ferdinand Le Pelletier and François Houtin. François Houtin, born in 1950, is the youngest, and François-Joachim Esnue-Lavallée, born in 1751, the first on record. Per 10,000 residents, the town has 9, close to the 6.3 of the typical Mayenne town.
Writers and artists take two of the three places.
French philosopher, historian, orientalist, and politician (1757-1820)
French politician
French engraver
No decade has more births than the 1750s, at 2.
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
The largest field is Writing & Arts, with 2 people.
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.
The most names next door are in Château-Gontier-sur-Mayenne: 49.
Volney (French philosopher, historian, orientalist, and politician (1757-1820)) is the best known by our measure: 34 Wikipedia and sister-site articles in different languages. Next come Ferdinand Le Pelletier and François Houtin.
4 people born in Craon have a French Wikipedia article that confirms the town as their birthplace (and an English one that agrees, when there is one). Wikidata places 15 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, writers and artists: 2 of the 4. That is 50% of the town’s list, against 25% across French towns.
François-Joachim Esnue-Lavallée, born in 1751. The youngest on the list was born in 1950.
People whose Wikidata birthplace is Craon 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.