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Biggest Cities in France

How many of France's most populous cities can you name?
2018 estimates. Population is for the city proper, not the metro area.
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: January 16, 2021
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First submittedApril 14, 2012
Times taken158,582
Average score55.0%
Rating4.50
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Population
City
2,175,601
Paris
868,277
Marseille
518,635
Lyon
486,828
Toulouse
341,032
Nice
314,138
Nantes
290,053
Montpellier
Population
City
284,677
Strasbourg
257,068
Bordeaux
233,098
Lille
217,728
Rennes
182,211
Reims
176,198
Toulon
173,089
Saint-Étienne
Population
City
169,733
Le Havre
157,650
Grenoble
156,854
Dijon
154,508
Angers
150,659
Villeurbanne
149,633
Nîmes
+5
Level 9
Apr 13, 2012
Can you accept 'Rheims' for 'Reims' please? I've always known it Rheims.
+4
Level ∞
Apr 14, 2012
Okay. That will work now.
+30
Level 45
Oct 13, 2014
But ... It's not Rheims, it's Reims, why would you accept mispelled names ?
+21
Level 66
Nov 4, 2014
it can be spelt either way, we also learnt rheims at school

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims

+38
Level 67
Jun 17, 2018
Please accept Niou-Iorke too for NYC, because I think it's better like that.
+19
Level 65
Mar 8, 2020
@diguedondon Rheims and Reims are both acceptable English spellings. It is not someone's personal made up version for their own enjoyment, or a misspelling they wish to be accepted because they cant spell it correctly. You ve made yourself look quite silly.

(Actually my spellcheck does nót underline Rheims, but it dóes underline Reims..(and wants to change it to Rheims))

+16
Level 67
May 23, 2020
@Sifhraven

What I said about Niou-Iorke is called a "joke". A joke is something you say because you think it's funny. It's quite new, I know. I consider myself as totally stupid, and silly as you said. Thank you for the compliment. Best regards.

+24
Level 60
May 26, 2019
i'm french. nobody ever spells "rheims" this way.
+12
Level 65
Mar 8, 2020
This is the English quiz though, not the french so it is irrelevant to which English spellings should be accepted.
+5
Level 30
Oct 29, 2020
sure, but why change the name of a city that is called Reims ? x)
+16
Level 44
Nov 12, 2020
Est pourquoi vous diriez Londres au lieu de London? Chaque langue a souvent son propre nom pour une ville étrangère.
+4
Level 68
May 22, 2022
this is called an exonym : look, in French we say "Londres", "La Nouvelle Orléans", "Edimbourg", ...
+2
Level 68
Jul 31, 2013
16/20
+3
Level 48
Sep 5, 2014
Great quiz, as always. Why not taking one of mine?
+2
Level 76
Nov 14, 2014
Since you've updated the data, you should also update the note, it says it's based on 2011 data
+3
Level ∞
Nov 14, 2014
That was the update. I think I was using 2006 before.
+11
Level 82
Nov 14, 2014
Was "Angers" so named for the effect it has on people who take this quiz?
+25
Level 43
May 21, 2016
"Nice" pun
+20
Level 81
Dec 14, 2016
A little "Toulouse" for my liking.
+22
Level 71
Jun 10, 2017
You've been doing quizzes for Toulon I think!
+26
Level 19
Sep 14, 2017
Bordeaux-line painful puns going on.
+10
Level 75
Sep 30, 2018
Um... something about a Paris-izzers?
+24
Level 78
Dec 3, 2018
Put in a "Lille" more effort next time.
+19
Level 44
May 3, 2019
You Caen do it, don't be such a Nancy
+7
Level 25
Feb 16, 2020
You guys Nantes make puns
+7
Level 53
Feb 9, 2021
This isn't Nice to watch, Le Havre to make the puns better.
+2
Level 50
Jul 9, 2022
Some pope named France-ais sure do like these French puns
+5
Level 19
Nov 17, 2014
i wonder if someone missed paris...
+5
Level 35
Nov 17, 2014
Me: Paris

Everyone else: city 1, city 2,..... city 17

+3
Level 66
Dec 18, 2014
Missed Nîmes and Villeurbanne.
+2
Level 18
Dec 5, 2020
same
+3
Level 64
Jun 27, 2015
spelled Strasbourg as Strassbourg :(
+5
Level 45
Apr 21, 2019
I think that should be accepted. There's a lot of german stuff around there, and I believe in german they often write it with that weird B-like thing that does ss (don't know how to write it)
+3
Level 65
Mar 8, 2020
ß just tried some things out. It is right alt and s
+1
Level 34
Mar 10, 2022
German isn't the official language of France
+2
Level 83
Dec 19, 2022
French is the only official language of France, sure, but there are tons of languages spoken there that aren't official, because the government is funny about it. The Germanic variety around Strasbourg is called Alsatian, and is doing quite well for a regional language.
+1
Level 34
Mar 26, 2023
Lol I'm from Lorraine I can tell you Alsacien is dying and it's not official either plus this is not an Alsacien quiz
+1
Level 83
Feb 19, 2024
that's why I said 'for a regional language'. None of the regional languages are doing magnificently, but in terms of how close they are to language death, Alsatian is one of the better off ones. Or at least that's what linguistic studies from about 10-20 years ago claim. Could be that it's massively dropped off lately.
+2
Level 43
Apr 15, 2016
Easy !
+2
Level 55
Jun 17, 2016
can u accept st ethienne?
+9
Level 60
May 26, 2019
y'all are trippin
+2
Level 68
Dec 1, 2016
Only missed Toulon, Reims and Villeurbanne, but technically, Villeurbanne is part of Lyon. Great quiz though !
+6
Level 58
Dec 13, 2016
Villeurbanne is part of the Lyon metropolitan area, but the quiz states it is about proper city populations!
+6
Level 86
Dec 13, 2016
It is adjacent to Lyon, but it is a separate municipality.
+1
Level 34
Mar 26, 2023
It is not
+3
Level 44
Dec 13, 2016
8-Ugh. My French geography knowledge is lacking somewhat!
+8
Level 73
Dec 13, 2016
surprised not to see Clermont Ferrand or Le Mans...
+4
Level 86
Dec 13, 2016
If I remember well, Le Mans was there in lieu of Nîmes on the previous version. Anyway, there are several cities in the 140k that are close to make the list.
+3
Level 56
Feb 9, 2021
There are heaps of surprises for me. No Metz, Nancy, Clermont, Le Havre, etc. etc. Lots of anomalies whichever way you count.

Which I suppose is just another way of saying "I missed off loads"

+3
Level 88
Feb 9, 2021
Le Havre is on there, though.
+3
Level 74
Dec 13, 2016
Did you make the cut-off just so that Saint Denis would fall off and you could avoid the whole discussion if Reunion is part of France in this context? :) :)
+5
Level 86
Dec 14, 2016
Is there a discussion about Honolulu in the US biggest cities quiz?
+3
Level 43
May 11, 2017
Saint Denis at La Réunion would be 22nd after Le Mans ;)
+3
Level 68
Aug 30, 2018
I think he just made the cut off after the 20th biggest city?! Just a guess...
+2
Level 82
Mar 28, 2019
I tried Cayenne but it's too small, apparently.
+4
Level 62
Jun 12, 2019
saint denis just make me think of RDR2
+2
Level 22
Apr 21, 2017
100% first try.
+8
Level 33
Jul 22, 2017
Got 50% only by typing in Le Ligue 1 team names. As I often say, football is a lot of culture!
+1
Level 34
Mar 10, 2022
La* Ligue 1
+3
Level 51
Nov 16, 2017
What about Clermont-Ferrand ? (Michelin headquarters)
+3
Level 84
Mar 6, 2018
Clermont-Ferrand ranks 24th with a population of 141,463.
+2
Level 27
Dec 26, 2017
what about Avignon???
+5
Level 84
Mar 5, 2018
Avignon ranks 45th with a population of 90,305.
+14
Level 31
Mar 27, 2018
Too franco-centric.
+5
Level 29
Feb 9, 2021
Innit
+4
Level 53
Feb 9, 2021
n'est-ce pas
+3
Level 58
Jan 22, 2019
Did anyone truly know Villeurbanne?
+7
Level 69
Aug 7, 2020
Only French people or tourists who have visited Lyon and paid attention at road signs I think
+3
Level ∞
Jan 16, 2021
That's funny. I spent 3 weeks in Lyon and I didn't recognize it. I've almost certainly been there. Didn't pay attention to road signs I guess.
+2
Level 52
Jun 27, 2022
The current champion in the basketball French league.
+2
Level 49
Mar 28, 2019
Nice.
+4
Level 38
Sep 6, 2019
Got all But missed Paris
+3
Level 8
May 4, 2020
Well, it looks easier when you are french !
+3
Level 23
Jan 22, 2021
bruh
+2
Level 45
Oct 8, 2020
Marseille nice Bordeaux Toulouse Strasbourg Lille Montpellier Dijon and Reims are hard
+2
Level 44
Nov 12, 2020
Actually, I would suggest that the quiz is misnamed. These are not city names, but commune names. They are so listed in Wikipedia, and the French commune has no exact English equivalent - sometimes it is like a parish, sometimes a town, sometimes a part of a city, sometimes like a municipality - but it is inaccurate to call this list cities. Lyon is a city - it contains several communes. And saying it is not the metro area does not change that. The English equivalent of "commune" is ... "Commune".
+5
Level 82
Jan 1, 2021
Uuuuuh, I'm french and I can assure you that Lyon is a single commune. I think you're mistaken because of Lyon Metropolis, which is the metro area of Lyon, and therefore contains multiple communes.

All communes are full-fledged cities/towns/villages.

+4
Level 68
Feb 9, 2021
What the hell are you talking about? Of course these are cities! The French word for "city" is "ville" - a "ville" is a commune with more than 2.000 inhabitants, which these all have. I'm all for nit-picking, but at least put some effort into it!
+3
Level 68
Feb 9, 2021
Here's the wikipedia definition for "city": "A city is a large human settlement. It can be defined as a permanent and densely settled place with administratively defined boundaries whose members work primarily on non-agricultural tasks." Which one of these do you think doesn't fit the definition?
+2
Level 68
Feb 9, 2021
By the way, the illustration photo on Wikipedia is a picture of Paris.
+4
Level 45
Jan 2, 2021
There is two French cities of emotion, nice and angers.
+3
Level 50
Feb 9, 2021
I'm French and I would never have guessed Villeurbanne xD
+1
Level 34
Mar 10, 2022
T'es partout toi c'est dingue
+2
Level 55
Feb 9, 2021
Had no idea there would have been a Montpellier in France...I'm only aware of the one in Vermont. You learn something new every day!
+14
Level 67
Feb 9, 2021
And guess which one was named after the other...?
+3
Level 56
Mar 16, 2021
Got most of these simply due to football or rugby teams; probably would have just got 4 otherwise.
+1
Level 42
May 18, 2021
THERE IS ANOTHER MONTPELIER????

imma assume that vermonts montpelier was named after this one....

+5
Level 64
Sep 28, 2021
Why would anyone name a city from Vermont?

France got their first anyways

+1
Level 22
May 27, 2021
i almost forgot montpeiler
+2
Level 70
Jul 23, 2021
It's quite tough that so many prominent French cities don't have enough people! Here are ones I guessed that didn't make the cut:

Orleans, Cherbourg, Avignon, Metz, Rouen, Dunkirk, Calais, Tours, Poitiers, Cannes, Caen, Versailles, Cayenne

+3
Level 77
Aug 19, 2021
I was in the same boat. I also guessed Brest and Aix-en-Provence.
+1
Level 27
Jan 26, 2023
Same. I also guessed Sedan, Amiens, Saint Quentin, Verdun, Vichy, Soissons, Agincourt, Limoges, Lorient, Nancy…

The joke seems very true that there are only two regions in France: Paris and countryside.

+1
Level 34
Mar 26, 2023
Agincourt ??? It's a village with 445 inhabitants

And if you're talking of Azincourt from the battle it has even less

+1
Level 14
Aug 25, 2021
Thanks for this good quiz !

It was easy for me LUL.

(I'm french)

+2
Level 34
Mar 10, 2022
Missing Saint-Denis (974)
+2
Level 68
Aug 14, 2022
True : it is now more populous than Nîmes and Villeurbanne.
+1
Level 28
May 7, 2022
20/20 (:
+2
Level 12
May 31, 2022
It's too easy when your french XD
+1
Level 35
Jun 1, 2022
wow I thought Villeurbanne was a tiny city in the suburbs of Lyon,I guess I'm wrong!
+1
Level 21
Jun 4, 2023
I think you are correct ? Villeurbanne is an "arrondissement" and does not classify as a city on its own. It is a commune not a city
+1
Level 51
Jun 30, 2022
I thought toulon and toulouse are same things
+2
Level 83
Dec 19, 2022
only a few hundred miles apart
+1
Level 35
May 11, 2023
please remove villeurbanne it makes no sense its so small

add la rochelle instead

+1
Level 21
Jun 4, 2023
I'm from Lyon, and Villeurbanne is a part of Lyon (an "arrondissement". It is not a city of its own as far as I'm aware. You should correct it please