Famous people named Dupont

Industry and the du Pont dynasty

For American readers the name means one family above all. Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771–1834) left revolutionary France and in 1802 founded a gunpowder works on the Brandywine in Delaware, the start of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. His father, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739–1817), was a writer and economist who served the French government before emigrating.

• Pierre S. du Pont (1870–1954) led both DuPont and General Motors.
• Alfred I. du Pont (1864–1935) was an industrialist, financier, philanthropist and amateur cellist.
• Samuel Francis Du Pont (1803–1865) rose to admiral in the US Navy.
• Pete du Pont (1935–2021) served as governor of Delaware.

France and Belgium

• Antoine Dupont (born 1996), scrum-half and captain of the French rugby union team.
• Aurélie Dupont (born 1973), étoile of the Paris Opera Ballet.
• Gabriel Dupont (1878–1914), composer of the opera Antar.
• Pierre Dupont de l'Étang (1765–1840), a general of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.
• Jacques-Charles Dupont de l'Eure (1767–1855), lawyer and statesman.
• Christian Dupont (born 1947), Belgian politician.

On ice and court

Canada's francophone Duponts include NHL defenceman André Dupont (born 1949), a Philadelphia Flyers enforcer, and Micki DuPont (born 1980).

Further afield

Clifford Dupont (1905–1978) became president of Rhodesia, and the Danish curling sisters Denise and Madeleine Dupont have represented Denmark internationally. The German film director E. A. Dupont (1891–1956) made the silent classic Variety.

None of this makes all Duponts one family. The name means "of the bridge" and arose wherever a household lived beside one, which is why so many unrelated Duponts exist. Heraldry works the same way: arms belonged to particular lines, never to everyone with a surname. You can read the meaning and origin on our Dupont coat of arms page, or trace your own branch through Dupont family history and genealogy.