Mononymous person town of Stendal, birthplace of the German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann, whom Stendhal admired. In the 20th century, a fourth French writer, Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (author of "Gigi", 1945), used her actual surname as her mononym pen name, Colette. Some French actors and singers have used their given name or surname as a stage mononym. In the 17th and 18th centuries, most Italian castrato singers used mononyms as stage names (e.g. Caffarelli, Farinelli). The German writer, mining engineer and philosopher, Georg Friedrich Philipp Freiherr von Hardenberg (1772–1801), became famous as Novalis. The 19th-century Dutch writer Eduard Douwes Dekker (1820–87), better
Aaron S. French Aaron S. French Aaron Samuel French (March 23, 1823 – March 24, 1902) was an American industrialist and philanthropist. French left school at an early age, and the first decades of his life were characterized by working a variety of jobs and recovering from prolonged illness. After co-founding a successful vehicular spring company, French gained prominence as a businessman and philanthropist in Pittsburgh during the second half of the 19th century. Aaron French was born in 1823 in Wadsworth, Ohio to Philo French and Mary (McIntyre) French. He dropped out of school at age 12 to work as a farm