This is a non-exhaustive list of people who were born in the Occitania historical territory, or notable people from other regions of France or Europe with Occitan roots, or notable people from other regions of France or Europe who have other significant links with the historical region. One may note that this article, 'Notable people from Occitania', is compound for a large part of personalities from the historical region of Occitania and/or who own an Occitan patronym and/or who lived for the major part of their lives in the Occitania historical territory, yet an important part of the list members still can't be considered as belonging to the Occitan historical heritage, mainly due to their mother-tongue, French.
Writers, playwrights and poets
Petronius, courtier during the reign of Nero from Massalia, author of the Satyricon. Ausonius, 4th century Roman poet from Burdigalia. Bertran de Born, 12th century troubadour. William IX, early troubadour and knight crusader. Marcabru, early 12th century troubadour. Monge de Montaudon, 12th century troubadour. Peire Vidal, early 13th century troubadour. Jaufre Rudel, major troubadour and crusader. Peire d'Alvernhe, second half of the 12th century troubadour. Comtessa de Dia, 12th century trobairitz (female troubadour). Raimbaut de Vaqueiras, 13th century troubadour and knight crusader during the Fourth crusade. Arnaut Daniel, late 12th century major troubadour. Bernard de Ventadour, 12th century major troubadour. Peire Cardenal, 13th century troubadour. Antoine de la Sale, 15th century courtier, educator and writer. Mellin de Saint-Gelais, Poet Laureate of Francis I of France. Augièr Galhard, 16th century writer. Clément Marot, 16th century Renaissance poet. Théodore Agrippa d'Aubigné, early 17th century Baroque poet. Bartas, 17th century poet who wrote both in French and in Occitan. Honoré d'Urfé, 17th century Pastoral writer. Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, 17th century Baroque author. La Rochefoucauld, 17th century moralist born in Paris to the famous noble Rochefoucauld family whose origins go back to Charente, where he had his residence. Théophile de Viau, 17th century Baroque poet and dramatist. Cyrano de Bergerac, 17th century novelist and playwright. He was from a Dordognaise aristocratic family from Bergerac, although he never lived there in his entire life. Fénelon, 17th century Renaissance writer. Nicolas Chamfort, 18th century poet, member of the Jacobin club. Marquis de Sade, 18th century aristocrat, revolutionary politician, philosopher, and writer. Born in Paris, he was the heir of the Provençal Sade house, one of the oldest family of the region. He was thus Lord of Saumane, Lacoste and Co-Lord of Mazan where he had several residences, including the famous Château de Lacoste. Marquis de Pompignan, 18th century man of letter. Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues, 18th century moralist. Baron de Montesquieu, an important writer and philosopher of the 18th century Enlightenment. Jean-François Marmontel, historian and novelist, member of the Encyclopédistes movement. Fleury Mesplet, founder of the Montreal Gazette (1778). André Chénier, late 18th century poet and figure of French Romanticism. Jansemin, 19th century Occitan language poet. Comte de Lautréamont, 19th century poet born in Uruguay to François Ducasse (consular officer) and his wife Jacquette-Célestine Davezac, both from Southwestern France from which they returned when Ducasse was thirteen, in Tarbes and later in Pau where the poet begun to write his first works. Émile Augier, 19th century dramatist. Honoré de Balzac, 19th century realist writer. Born in Tours, he was the son of Bernard François Balssa, an administrator from the Tarn department in South West France, who was despatched to Tours to coordinate supplies for the Army during the Directory. François changed his name to the more noble sounding Balzac, and his son Honoré later added — without official recognition — the nobiliary particle: "de". According to André Maurois and Philibert Auberrand, the original family name Balssa came from the radical bals which in Occitan means "steep rock". Another commonly admitted theory is that Balssa came from the Occitan balsan, derived from Late Latin balteanus, describing a horse with white patches on its paws. André Antoine, actor, theatre manager, film director, author, and critic as well as one of the leading member of the Naturalist movement. Théophile Gautier, 19th century poet and writer. Jules Vallès, 19th century writer. Émile Gaboriau, 19th century writer, journalist and novelist. Jules Laforgue, 19th century poet. Maurice de Guérin, 19th century poet. Alphonse Daudet, 19th century novelist. Pierre Loti, 19th century novelist and naval officer.