List of Légion d'honneur recipients by name (K)

The French government gives out the Legion of Honour awards, to both French[1] and foreign[2] nationals, based on a recipient's exemplary services rendered to France, or to the causes supported by France. This award is divided into five distinct categories (in ascending order[3]), i.e. three ranks: Knight, Officer, Commander, and two titles: Grand Officer and Grand Cross. Knight is the most common and is awarded for either at least 20 years of public service or acts of military or civil bravery.[3] The rest of the categories have a quota for the number of years of service in the category below before they can be awarded. The Officer rank requires a minimum of eight years as a Knight, and the Commander, the highest civilian category for a non-French citizen, requires a minimum of five years as an Officer. The Grand Officer and the Grand Cross are awarded only to French citizens, and each requires three years' service in their respective immediately lower rank.[4] The awards are traditionally published and promoted on 14 July.[5]

The following is a non-exhaustive list of recipients of the Legion of Honour awards, since the first ceremony in May 1803.[3] 2,550 individuals can be awarded the insignia every year.[5] The total number of awards is close to 1 million[6] (estimated at 900,000 in 2021,[5] including over 3,000 Grand Cross recipients[7]), with some 92,000 recipients alive today.[8] Only until 2008 was gender parity achieved amongst the yearly list of recipients, with the total number of women recipients since the award's establishment being only 59 at the end of the second French empire and only 26,000 in 2021.[5]

Recipient Dates
(birth – death)
General Work, and reason for the recognition Award category (date)
Jan Kaczmarek
Jean-Pierre Kahane
N'Golo Kanté World Cup winning footballer
Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor 1953 Jewish leader, philanthropist and businessman
Crown Prince Alexander II Karađorđević
Prince Bojidar Karageorgevitch 1862 – 1908 Serbian prince
Feridun Karakaya
Juhani Kaskeala
Bentley Kassal
Harry B. Kates, Jr 1923 – present WW2 Veteran
Aki Kaurismäki
Danny Kaye[9]
Tevfik Remzi Kazancıgil[10] Turkish physician and Professor in Medicine TBA (September 14, 1954)
Frank B. Kellogg
Gene Kelly
Raymond W. Kelly
M Stephen Kellman 1923 – present
Yaşar Kemal 1923 – present Turkish novelist
Raymond Kendall
Duncan Kerr Knight (23 August 2011)
Mohamad Keyvan 1909 – 1987 Iranian Civil and Structural Engineer
Abbas Kiarostami 1940 – present Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film producer
Dame Carol Kidu[11][12][13] 1948 - present Papua New Guinean politician and human rights campaigner
Philippe Kieffer
Jean-Claude Killy
Jeong H. Kim
Young-Oak Kim
Presnel Kimpembe World Cup winning footballer
Ernest King
Julian Klaczko
Franciszek Kleeberg
Jacques Paul Klein 1939-Present Special Representative of the Secretary General 15 May 2000
Ralph Klein[14] 1942 – 2013 Canadian politician.
Matti Klinge
Augusta Déjerine-Klumpke 1859 – 1927 Physician
Dorothea Klumpke
Karol Kniaziewicz
Professor Roy Knight 1907 – 1999 Professor of French, scholar of 17th-century tragic drama
Louis Aston Knight 1873 – 1948 American landscape painter
Edmund Knoll-Kownacki
Blanche Knopf American publisher. Recognised for his Work publishing French literature. Officer (1960)
William A. Knowlton
John Immanuel Knudson[15] Professor of History and Economics, Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn TBA (1935)
Adam Koc 1891 – 1969 Polish politician, soldier and journalist
Maurice Koechlin
Ossip Komissarov A Russian hat master (Kostroma province). Recognised for unwittingly foiling an assassination attempt on the Russian Emperor Alexander II. Knight (TBA)[16]
Wladyslaw Konopczynski
C. Everett Koop[17] TBA (1980)
Raymond Kopa 1931 – present French footballer
Wojciech Kossak
Sir John Kotelawala
Lansana Kouyaté
Jan Kozietulski
Jacek Kuroń 1934 – 2004 Polish historian
Akira Kurosawa 1910 – 1998 Japanese film director, producer and screenwriter
Yevhen Kushnaryov 1951 – 2007 Ukrainian politician
Emir Kusturica
Stanislaw Kutrzeba

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Légion Code, article 16.
  2. ^ Les étrangers qui se seront signalés par les services qu’ils ont rendus à la France ou aux causes qu’elle soutient, Légion Code, art. 128.
  3. ^ a b c "France train attack: Chris Norman awarded Legion d'honneur". BBC News. 24 August 2015. Archived from the original on 27 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  4. ^ DM, Florey (29 March 2017). "Michelle Yeoh receives France's highest civilian honour". Cinema Online. Archived from the original on 19 July 2021. Retrieved 20 July 2021. Alt URL
  5. ^ a b c d "The Grand Chancellery is co-producing a film on women and the Legion of Honor". The Grand Chancellery of the Legion of Honour. Archived from the original on 24 July 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2021.
  6. ^ "Legion of Honour". Australian Government – Department of Veteran's Affairs. 31 January 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  7. ^ Wattel, Michel; Wattel, Béatrice (2009). "Les Grand Croix de la Légion d'honneur. De 1805 à nos jours, titulaires français et étrangers". Archives & Culture.
  8. ^ Benoist, Chloé (18 December 2020). "Explained: Sisi, Macron and the dubious history of France's Legion of Honour". Middle East Eye. Archived from the original on 26 July 2021. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  9. ^ "French Honor Danny Kaye". The Modesto Bee. 26 February 1986. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  10. ^ "Tarihte Bugün (Today in History)". Tarihtebugun.gen.tr. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
  11. ^ "French honour for Dame Carol"[permanent dead link], Liama Abaijah, The National, February 13, 2009
  12. ^ "Décoration de Dame Carol Kidu" Archived 2009-06-25 at the Wayback Machine, French embassy to Papua New Guinea, February 12, 2009
  13. ^ Dame Carol's speech upon receiving the Légion d'honneur Archived September 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  14. ^ CKUA Radio News, March 27, 2008.
  15. ^ "John I. Knudson, Ex-Professor, 70 (Obituary)". The New York Times. 26 August 1959.
  16. ^ "3 россиянина, награждённые орденом Почётного легиона за необычные заслуги (3 Russians Awarded Légion d'honneur for Unusual Merits)". Russian Daily "Sobesednik". 16 August 2013. Archived from the original on 18 July 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2014.
  17. ^ "The C. Everett Koop Institute at Dartmouth". Retrieved 17 July 2021.
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