French people (French: Français) are a Western European ethnic group^{[30][31][32][33][34][35]} and nation that shares a common French culture, ancestry, French language and is identified with the country of France.

The French people, especially the native speakers of langues d'oil from northern and central France, are primarily the descendants of Gauls and Romans (or Gallo-Romans, western European Celtic and Italic peoples), as well as Germanic peoples such as the Franks, the Visigoths, the Suebi and the Burgundians who settled Gaul from east of the Rhine after the fall of the Roman Empire. The Norse also settled in Normandy in the 10th century and contributed ancestry to the Normans. Furthermore, regional ethnic minorities also exist within France that have distinct lineages, languages and cultures such as Bretons in Brittany, Occitans in Occitania, Basques in the French Basque Country, Catalans in northern Catalonia, Germans in Alsace and Flemings in French Flanders.^[36]