Many of French's students pursued careers in anthropology or allied fields. The most prominent of these were probably Dell Hymes (anthropologist and linguist, whose research also focuses on Chinookans) and Hymes's friend the Beat Generation poet Gary Snyder. Snyder's Reed B.A. thesis (1951) was later published as a book, "He Who Hunted Birds in His Father's Village: The Dimensions of a Haida Myth" (1979), and it is largely thanks to French that American Indian themes and concerns with folklore and language use have enriched nearly all of Snyder's work. Snyder dedicated his book "Myths and Texts" to French. Other students of French's included Gail M. Kelly, May Ebihara, Katherine Verdery, Robert A. Brightman, and Robert E. Moore.