French street names you will see in every town.

French street names which have been created to recognise famous historical figures.

In French town after French town, you’ll see famous names from history honoured on street signs - but who wins the prize for the biggest number of streets, avenues and boulevards bearing their name?

Some street names are, of course, pretty generic and geographically meaningful - you know what you expect to find on a Rue de l’Église, or in a Place de la Mairie, whichever town you’re visiting.

Some are more fanciful - Paris' famous Champs-Elysées literally means 'heavenly fields' - there are no fields and it's only heaven if you really like traffic and expensive chain stores.

But France is also very good at remembering historical figures - mostly its male historical figures because, well, the patriarchy.

Streets are often renamed after those involved in major incidents - squares in a number of towns were named after Samuel Paty, a teacher murdered in an Islamist terrorist attack in October 2020, while revered singer Johnny Hallyday was remembered with an Esplanade in Paris's 12th arrondissement in 2017, as well as one in Toulouse.

Here - in countdown order - are the 10 most popular street names in France named after famous people (read: men) throughout history.

At number 10.

10 Georges Clémenceau (1,234 streets in France)

Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920, Clémenceau was nicknamed Père la Victoire (Father of Victory) or Le Tigre (The Tiger), after leading France at the end of World War I and into its immediate aftermath.

Next time I'll tell you who is at number 9. Can you guess?

Categories: : Things 'French.'