1947 births

Michel Pastoureau (born 17 June 1947) is a French professor of medieval history and an expert in Western symbology.

Michel Mercier (born 7 March 1947) is a French politician and who served as Minister of Justice from 2010 until 2012.
After studying law and graduating from Jean Moulin University Law school and the Lyon IEP, he taught finance and local government law at the Faculty of Law of Lyon III.
Elected Senator from the Rhône on 24 September 1995, he was the right's official candidate in the municipal elections in 2001 in Lyon, incumbent Mayor Raymond Barre having refused to run for re-election. Arriving behind the right-wing dissident list supported by Charles Millon in his sector, the 5th arrondissement of Lyon, he decided to withdraw in favor of Jean-Michel Dubernard, who established an alliance with Charles Millon. The Socialist Gérard Collomb was elected Mayor of Lyon.
He was re-elected Senator on 26 September 2004. General councillor for the canton of Thizy, he is also President of the General Council of Rhône since February 1990. Treasurer of the UDF, he remained loyal to the opposition of François Bayrou vis-à-vis the government of Dominique de Villepin.
President of the Centrist Union Senate group since 2002, he remained faithful to François Bayrou by joining the MoDem. On 30 January 2008, Michel Mercier, by favouring an alliance with the UMP in Lyon, whose list was led by Dominique Perben for the 2008 municipal elections signaled his disagreement with the strategy of François Bayrou by resigning the presidency of the MoDem in Rhône. He remained MoDem treasurer and member of the executive board of the MoDem until his appointment to the government.
On 23 June 2009, he joined the government of François Fillon as Minister of Rural Areas and Spatial Planning. He announced his hiatus from the MoDem and was replaced as treasurer by Jean-Jacques Jégou.
From 14 November 2010 he is Minister of justice in the 3rd government of François Fillon.
After the defeat of Nicolas Sarkozy at the 2012 Presidential election, he was replaced by Christiane Taubira. During his tenure as Minister, he was criticized for his lack of communication.

Louis Floch (born 28 December 1947) is a French former professional footballer who played as a forward.

Michel Diefenbacher (15 July 1947, in Sarrebourg – 9 October 2017) was a French politician and member of the National Assembly of France. He represented the Lot-et-Garonne department, and was a member of the Union for a Popular Movement.

Françoise Demulder (9 June 1947 – 3 September 2008) was a French war photographer who in 1976 became the first woman to win the World Press Photo of the Year award. The winning image was a black and white photo of a Palestinian woman raising her hands at a masked militiaman in Beirut's war-ravaged La Quarantaine district.

Jacques Lameloise (French pronunciation: [ʒak lamlwaz], born 6 April 1947) is a French chef who was the chef de cuisine at the French restaurant Maison Lameloise (usually known as Lameloise) in Chagny from 1979 until 2008.

Yves Bot (August 22, 1947 – June 9, 2019) was a French magistrate who served until his death as Advocate General at the European Court of Justice.

Christian Escoudé (born 1947) is a French Gypsy jazz guitarist.
He grew up in Angoulême and is of Romani descent on his father's side. His father was also a guitarist who was influenced by Django Reinhardt. When Escoudé was ten, his father began teaching him the guitar, and he became a professional musician at age fifteen. His style is a mix of bebop and gypsy jazz influences, featuring the use of vibrato, portamento, and fast runs.He started work in a trio with Aldo Romano in 1972. By the 1980s, he was in John Lewis's quartet. He also played with Philip Catherine for a time. In his forties, he signed with the French division of Verve Records.

Christian Jacq (French: [ʒak]; born 28 April 1947) is a French author and Egyptologist. He has written several novels about ancient Egypt, notably a five book series about pharaoh Ramses II, a character whom Jacq admires greatly.

Bernard Cerquiglini (born 8 April 1947 in Lyon, France), is a French linguist.
A Graduate of the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, having received an agrégé and a doctorate in letters, he was a teacher of linguistics in University of Paris VII, former director of the National Institute for the French language, former vice-president of the Conseil supérieur de la langue française and president of the French National Reading Observatory. In 1995 Bernard Cerquiglini joined the Oulipo. He was in charge of a governmental studies on a French orthography reform and about national languages in France. He received the title Doctor Honoris Causa at ULIM.