Jean Vauquelin de La Fresnaye
1536–1607French poet
Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Jean Vauquelin de La Fresnaye, the French poet, is the most widely known, written about in 11 languages. Second and third on the list are Louis Dartige du Fournet and Stanislas Sorel. Fewer than a quarter of the 102 towns in Orne with famous people list more. Go 12 mi to Argentan and the list grows to 55, with Fernand Léger at the top.
Counted by languages, Jean Vauquelin de La Fresnaye is ahead of Louis Dartige du Fournet and Stanislas Sorel: 11, 8 and 6.
French poet
French military personnel (1856-1940)
French chemist who invented galvanic protection of steel and a magnesium-based cement (1803-1871)
Writing & Arts leads the fields, with 1 people.
The usual town: the share across everyone listed in French towns. Tap a field to see its people.
3 towns around it have someone on record.
Jean Vauquelin de La Fresnaye (French poet) is the best known by our measure: 11 Wikipedia and sister-site articles in different languages. Next come Louis Dartige du Fournet and Stanislas Sorel.
3 people born in Putanges-le-Lac 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, writers and artists: 1 of the 3. That is 33% of the town’s list, against 25% across French towns.
Jean Vauquelin de La Fresnaye, born in 1536. The youngest on the list was born in 1856.
People whose Wikidata birthplace is Putanges-le-Lac 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.