# Who is the most famous non-fictional Belgian? (updated) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 3, 2020, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651 "2020-11-03T15:10:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2020, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/41 "2020-11-03T23:20:21Z")
That’s what I mean, though. Who else can you name whose fame is connected to their country of origin, other than royals and maybe politicians? Actors, musicians, artists, etc, are all famous for something else other than their country of origin. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/42 "2020-11-04T03:16:27Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Heard of them, know their claim to fame, but again not with even the slightest connection to Belgium. The OP isn’t asking who is the most famous for _being_ Belgian, but who is the most famous person who _is_ Belgian, in my reading of it. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/43 "2020-11-04T07:02:27Z")
Interesting that Jacques Brel doesn’t get much love. The actual Belgians I know allmost all pick him. Could be wishful thinking on their part. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/44 "2020-11-04T09:11:46Z")
> [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > You could argue that he most famous Belgium right now is Eden Hazard or Kevin De Bruyne! I agree - I voted for Magritte in the poll, but if you asked me “name a famous non-fictional Belgian”, Eden Hazard would probably be the first person to come to mind. Before this thread I probably couldn’t have told you offhand that Magritte or Merckx were Belgian. Have heard of all the others in the poll but apart from Herge, wouldn’t have occurred to me to name them if asked cold. Other footballers who would come to mind are Romelu Lukaku and Thibault Courtois. Until the relatively recent ‘revolution’ in Belgian football, the classic answer for the UK football fan was Luc Nilis. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/45 "2020-11-04T09:40:39Z")
See I think the famous footballers split the vote… ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/46 "2020-11-04T10:19:11Z")
I agre with ScifiSam, if you consider which Belgian is known by the most people, it is clearly Magritte. I think almost everyone over the age of 10 knows at least some of his paintings, and I believe his name is part of general cultural knowledge at least in Western society. Leopold is not known outside Belgium and a handful of historians etc., I believe most Dutch people (living in the most closely related country) even couldn’t name him or wouldn’t know which country he was from. Jacques Brel should be better known but I fear his moment of fame with the general pblic has passed, JCvD is only known with the people who like that kind of movies. Similarly with the footballers: only fans know them (I have no idea who they are). So for general public fame it is clearly Magritte. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/47 "2020-11-04T11:26:05Z")
> [@Tusculan](#): > > I believe his name is part of general cultural knowledge at least in Western society. You have a _much_ more optimistic view of Western society than I do. To wit: > [@Tusculan](#): > > JCvD is only known with the people who like that kind of movies. I think you’re grossly underestimating how much of Western society that is. Oh, and: > [@Tusculan](#): > > Leopold is not known outside Belgium and a handful of historians etc., I think you’re missing out one, very large, country that has excellent reasons to know exactly who the fucker is. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/48 "2020-11-04T11:26:43Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > If you know where Brussels is then you most likly know where Van Damne is from. Problem is most Americans don’t know where Brussels is . . . maybe in the vegetable aisle. Please explain your reasoning here. I certainly know where Brussels is, know about the dual Flemish / Walloon nature of Belgium, etc. That some actor’s stage name sounds like a mix of French & Dutch names is hardly determinative. Or is there more? > [@needscoffee](#): > > The OP isn’t asking who is the most famous for _being_ Belgian, but who is the most famous person who _is_ Belgian, in my reading of it. Granted. In effect I took the question as: “Here’s a list of people, of which most but not necessarily all are Belgian. Pick the most famous Belgian one.” That’s clearly not what the OP’s words say, but that’s how I processed the list. At least partly because the first choice _was_ famous for being Belgian whereas the others were not. In effect I held the others up to the same measuring stick I used to recognize Leopold: a) Belgian, b) famous. And they failed. Partly for lack of famousness in my limited knowledge set, but also, penumbrally, for having no known connection (in my mind) to Belgium. Dumb, or at least sloppy, thinking on my part. RTFQ. :smack: > [@Tusculan](#): > > So for general public fame it is clearly Magritte Agree that’s the most plausible answer for the OP’s question as asked. Despite all that quibbling, this was a fun question overall. Thanks @DaphneBlack. I did a big wikigrination off each of those names and learned a lot of cool stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/49 "2020-11-04T11:30:36Z")
What - no love for Plastic Bertrand? But Magritte was the first one that popped into my head so I went with him. Although Herge and Brel are fine choices too. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/50 "2020-11-04T11:31:52Z")
Magritte was my first choice; I’m not an art person and even I’ve heard of him. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/51 "2020-11-04T11:34:58Z")
Late add for a post that arrived while I was typing: > [@MrDibble](#): > > Oh, and: > > > [@Tusculan](#): > > > > Leopold is not known outside Belgium and a handful of historians etc., > > I think you’re missing out one, very large, country that has excellent reasons to know exactly who the fucker is. This is also true for any number of countries besides Congo. He’s quite infamous among educated folks everywhere as the poster child for the idea that white European colonialism was a multi-century crime against humanity. As Hitler is to genocide, Leopold is to colonial exploitation (with a large side order of _de facto_ genocide). ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/52 "2020-11-04T11:49:46Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > What - no love for Plastic Bertrand? Isn’t he famous for not singing his own songs? I’d suggest Front 242, perhaps… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/53 "2020-11-04T11:55:08Z")
I love Front 242. But I couldn’t name a member if you paid me. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/54 "2020-11-04T12:08:56Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > Isn’t he famous for not singing his own songs? Possibly. I just really like “Ça plane pour moi”. ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/55 "2020-11-04T13:32:34Z")
That’s a great song! ---
**Author:** ![DaphneBlack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daphneblack/32/5389_2.png) [@DaphneBlack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DaphneBlack)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/56 "2020-11-04T13:34:36Z")
You’re welcome! That was (in part at least) what I’d hoped for. Did you read about how Adolph Sax almost died accidentally something like five times as a child? That’s the weirdest fact I discovered in pursuing this project. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/57 "2020-11-04T20:11:17Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Nothing about your title specifies it needs to be a person. “Belgians” are also a breed of draft horse. I was thinking beers. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/58 "2020-11-04T20:24:29Z")
> [@Tusculan](#): > > Jacques Brel should be better known but I fear his moment of fame with the general pblic has passed, Brel was initially my choice, but I agree—he simply isn’t that well-known anymore. I decided to throw a vote to Sax. Sure, most people haven’t heard of him, but they’ve probably heard of the saxophone (even if they don’t know that it’s named for the inventor). I gave him credit on that basis. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/59 "2020-11-04T20:33:19Z")
Most famous Belgian is different from most famous and known as Belgian. Lots of those mentioned no-one has any idea they are/were Belgian. So I voted for the former (and awful) king, because “of the Belgians” is in his title, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2020, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651/60 "2020-11-04T20:47:44Z")
I’m having the suspicion that the argument about “most famous Belgian” or “person most famous for being Belgian” is only based on the fact that Belgium is a small country that naturally has only few well known people. Would we have the same discussion if we talked about famous Germans or French? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-most-famous-non-fictional-belgian-updated/924651.md?page=4)