Lefebvre, François Joseph, 1755-1820, marshal of France. He rose from the ranks in the French Revolutionary Wars and distinguished himself under Napoleon Bonaparte (later Emperor Napoleon I). He aided Napoleon in the coup of 18 Brumaire and was later made (1803) duke of Danzig. His wife, who had been a washerwoman, caused some sensation through her unconventional manners and is the heroine of Victorien Sardou's play Madame Sans-Gěne.

Lefebvre, Georges, 1874-1959, French historian, an authority on the French Revolutionary period. From 1937 to 1945 he held the chair of French Revolutionary history at the Sorbonne, and he founded the Institut d'histoire de la Révolution française. Lefebvre's most original contributions were the writing of history from below, particularly the French Revolution as viewed from the experiences of the peasantry, and his mastery of quantitative research. Both are evident in Les Paysans du Nord pendant la Révolution française (1924). Although influenced by Marxism, he was predominantly an empiricist and a humanist; he saw in history a complex interaction of social, economic, and political phenomena. His La Révolution française (rev. ed. 1951), considered an authoritative work, has been translated in two volumes as The French Revolution (1962-64) and The French Revolution from 1793 to 1799 (1964). Another work is Napoléon (4th ed. 1953; tr., 2 vol., 1969), a judicious study of the Napoleonic era.

Lefebvre is a common French surname. It is also spelled Lefèvre, LeFebvre, LeFèvre, and is used in the related forms Lefeuvre, Lefébure, Favre, Faure, Favret, Favrette or Dufaure.

The name derives from "ferrum", the Latin word for "iron", being originally a surname stating the profession of its bearer, literally a "farrier" with its etymological cognate in the Italian "Ferrari". Many French surnames are used with the definite article as a prefix (Lefebvre, Lefèvre; archaic spellings are LeFevre, LeFèvre), with the partitive article as a prefix (Dufaure), or without article/prefix (Favre, Faure), but the meaning is the same.

It may refer to:

• Arlette Lefebvre (born 1947), Canadian child psychologist
• Arthur H. Lefebvre (1923-2003), research engineer and scientist
• Charles, comte Lefebvre-Desnouettes (1773-1822), French general
• Charles-Édouard Lefebvre (1843-1917), French composer
• Edmond Lefebvre du Prey (1866-1955), French politician
• Elsie Lefebvre (born 1979), Quebec politician
• François Joseph Lefebvre (1755-1820), French marshal during Napoleonic Wars
• Georges Lefebvre (1874-1959), French historian
• Germaine Lefebvre (1933-1990), French actress professionally known as Capucine
• Guillaume Lefebvre (born 1981), Canadian ice hockey player
• Henri Lefebvre (1901-1991), French philosopher, sociologist, and intellectual
• Hippolyte-Jules Lefèbvre (1863–1935), French sculptor
• Jean Lefebvre (1922-2004), French actor
• Jim Lefebvre (born 1942), American baseball player
• Jules Joseph Lefebvre (1836–1911), French painter
• Louise-Rosalie Lefebvre (1751-1821), French actress, dancer, and singer
• Louis Lefebvre, French scientist
• Ludovic Lefebvre, celebrity chef
• Marcel Lefebvre (1905-1991), French Roman Catholic archbishop
• Roland Lefebvre (born 1963), Dutch cricket player
• Sébastien Lefebvre, French-Canadian musician
• Sylvain Lefebvre (born 1967), Canadian ice hockey player
• Tanneguy Le Fèvre (1615-1672), French scholar
• Vladimir Lefebvre, American mathematician
• Kristine Lefebvre, American lawyer and contestant on The Apprentice

See also

• Lefébure
• Fabre
• Favre
• Faure