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France: Symbols of the Republic

France has no official coat of arms
Logo of the State - Marianne
National symbol
National seal
National emblem
The RF cypher

See also:

France has no official coat of arms

Heraldry being perceived as an aristocratic art form, the Republic did not adopt new armorial bearings following the Revolution. Consequently, many heraldists, including some of the most distinguished, consider that the legitimate arms of France remain those from the time of the kings. This is the reason why the seal, the national symbol, and the emblem are nowadays the only official graphics used by the Republic (with the flags and cockades, of course).

Source: Pierre Gay's website, translated by Joseph McMillan, 2 April 2003

Logo of the State - Marianne

France still has no coat of arms but has now a logo.

According to AFP (12 March 1999), Prime Minister Lionel Jospin has given the state a logo, a Marianne on blue-white-red ground, which shall be put soon on all the documents of the ministries and administrations.

Pascal Vagnat, 13 March 1999

Government agencies which already had their own logo need not use this one.

Marianne is the nickname given to the feminine allegory of the Republic (derived from the revolutionary allegory of Liberty). Origin of the nickname is controversial according to M. Pastoureau [pst98] . It can be dated 1848-1851, with generalization ca. 1875.
The evolution of Marianne's graphic charter reflects the political evolution of French society.

The allegory used on the logo is an interesting mix of the wise, bourgeois Marianne and the revolutionary, popular one.

Ivan Sache, 13 October 2000

The history of Marianne in state iconography is available on the Prime Minister's website.

Todd Mills, 13 October 2000

The muncipal monthly review of Versailles has an article about Marianne. It reports one of the possible origin of Marianne (but see above about the unclear and controversial origin of Marianne):

After the coup of 17 Fructidor 1797, the Directory [the regime which ruled France from 26 October 1795 to 9 November 1799], wanted to give a pleasant nickname to the French Republic, [probably to lighten the bloody image of the Revolution]. The gallant Barras [one of the Directors], once invited for dinner by Madame Marianne Reubell, asked her for her first name, and said