# List of Légion d'honneur recipients by name (M)

The French government gives out the Legion of Honour awards, to both French and foreign 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), 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. 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. The awards are traditionally published and promoted on 14 July.
The following is a non-exhaustive list of recipients of the Legion of Honour awards, since the first ceremony in May 1803. 2,550 individuals can be awarded the insignia every year. The total number of awards is close to 1 million (estimated at 900,000 in 2021, including over 3,000 Grand Cross recipients), with some 92,000 recipients alive today. 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.

## List of Légion d'honneur recipients by name

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| Recipient | Dates (birth – death) | General work & reason for the recognition | Award category (date) |
| Douglas MacArthur | | | |
| Donald Matheson | 1926-2021 | D-Day Landing on the 6th June 1944 - Able seaman aboard H.M.S Black Prince. Flag Semaphore - Flag communications between ships. Telegraphist. | Knight (2021) |
| Ian MacGregor | 1912 – 1998 | Scottish-American metallurgist and industrialist | |
| Frederick William MacMonnies | | | |
| Franciszek Macharski | | | |
| Nevil Macready | | | |
| Mauricio Macri | | President of Argentina | |
| Stanisław Maczek | | Polish general | |
| Auguste Antoine Maestracci | | Recognised for his military and civil service. | TBA (1913) |
| Norman Mailer | | | |
| Jean-Christophe Maillot | | | |
| Jacques Maisonrouge | | | |
| Claude François de Malet | | | |
| Laure Manaudou | | | |
| Steve Mandanda | | World Cup winning footballer | |
| Benoît Mandelbrot | | | |
| Édouard Manet | 1832 – 1883 | French painter | TBA (1881) |
| Lata Mangeshkar | | India | |
| Charles Mangin | | | |
| Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim | 1867 – 1951 | | |
| Alexander Mantashev | 1842 – 1911 | Oil magnate, financier and philanthropist. Made a donation to build Armenian Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Paris | |
| Frederick Mappin | | | |
| Sir Frederick Mappin, 1st Baronet | | | |
| Jean-Baptiste Antoine Marcellin Marbot | | French general | |
| Antoine Adolphe Marcelin Marbot | | French general | |
| Marcel Marceau | | | |
| Peyton C. March | | | |
| André Marchal | | | |
| Stanley Marcus | | | |
| Maria of Yugoslavia | | Consort of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia | |
| Anna Marly | | | |
| Lara Marlowe | | American journalist | |
| Auguste Marmont | | | |
| Jacques Maroger | | | |
| Paule Marrot | 1902 – 1987 | Parisian textile designer | |
| Wynton Marsalis | | | |
| Albert Marshall | | | |
| George Marshall | | | |
| Richard Marshall (American general) | | | |
| Frédéric Martens | 1806 – 1885 | French photographer | Knight (10/29/1855) |
| Gregory S. Martin | | | |
| Henri Martre | | | |
| Charles Marx | | | |
| Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk | | | |
| Mashhour Ahmed Mashhour | | President of Suez Canal Authority in Egypt 1965 – 1983 | |
| Henri Gratte Maskens | | Captain in the Service of Napoleon 1, 1787 – 1871 | |
| André Masséna | | | |
| William Massey | | Prime Minister of New Zealand 1912 – 1925 | |
| Isabelle Massieu | 1844 – 1932 | French traveler, photographer and writer | |
| Jan Matejko | | | |
| Mateja Matevski | | | |
| Mireille Mathieu | | | |
| Olivier Elzéar Mathieu | | | |
| Ginette Mathiot | | | |
| Mimie Mathy | | French actress and comedian | Knight (4 May 2015) |
| Blaise Matuidi | | World Cup winning footballer | |
| Amélie Mauresmo | | French tennis champion | |
| François Mauriac | | | |
| Daniel Maximin | | | |
| Peter Mayle | | | |
| Paddy Mayne | | | |
| Robert Blair Mayne | | | |
| Kylian Mbappé | | World Cup winning footballer | |
| Paul McCartney | | | |
| John P. McConnell| | | | |
| Cyrus McCormick | | | |
| James "Earthquake McGoon" McGovern Jr. | | American World War II and First Indochina War pilot | |
| Leonard William McKiel | | | |
| Beverly McLachlin | | | |
| Lesley J. McNair | | | |
| Joseph T. McNarney | | | |
| Merrill A. McPeak | | | |
| Joe Medicine Crow | | Last war chief of the Crow tribe | |
| Zubin Mehta | | | |
| Étienne Méhul | | | |
| Georges Méliès | | | |
| Antoine Brutus Menier | | | |
| Benjamin Mendy | | World Cup winning footballer | |
| Henri Menier | | | |
| Emile-Justin Menier | | | |
| Honoré Mercier | | | |
| Angela Merkel | | | |
| Philippe-Antoine Merlin de Douai | | | |
| Yves Mersch | | | |
| Luc-Olivier Merson | | | |
| Olivier Messiaen | | Composer, organist, and pianist. | |
| Paul Métivier | | | |
| Corinne Mentzelopoulos | | | |
| André Meyer | | | |
| Gerald C. Meyers | | | |
| Joseph François Michaud | | | |
| Aníbal Milhais | | Portuguese World War I hero | |
| Darius Milhaud | | | |
| Édouard Jean Baptiste Milhaud | | Removed from the Légion after the second restoration of Louis XVIII | |
| Madeleine Milhaud | | | |
| Niko Miljanić | | | |
| George Millar | | | |
| Syd Millar | | | |
| Franklin Miller | | | |
| Charles Joseph Minard | | | |
| Alfred Peter Mischo | | | |
| Živojin Mišić | | | |
| Francis Mitchell (Royal Navy officer) | | | |
| Nancy Mitford | | | |
| Mizan Zainal Abidin | | Sultan of Terengganu and current Yang Di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia | |
| Narendra Modi | | Prime Minister of India | Grand Cross (14 July 2023) |
| Robert Mondavi | | | |
| Mongkut | | King of Thailand | |
| Henri Monod | 1843 - 1911 | Head of the Directorate of Public Welfare, Paris. | Knight (12 July 1880) |
| Jacques Monod | | Molecular biologist. First cousin twice removed of Henri Monod, who was also a recipient. | |
| Luc Montagnier | | | |
| Prosper Montagné | | | |
| Jean-Pierre de Montalivet | | | |
| Philippe de Montebello | | | |
| Agénor Azéma de Montgravier | | | |
| Raymond Monvoisin | | | |
| Charles Moore | | | |
| James Moore (cyclist) | | | |
| Charles Antoine Morand | | | |
| Justin Bonaventure Morard de Galles | | | |
| Charles Paul Narcisse Moreau | | | |
| Émilienne Moreau-Evrard | | | |
| Daniel Morelon | | | |
| Roland Moreno | | | |
| Michèle Morgan | | | |
| Eugène Moret, Officier | | | |
| Thomas Alfred Morgan | | | |
| Akio Morita | | | |
| Vincent de Moro-Giafferi | | | |
| Ennio Morricone | | | |
| Leslie Morshead | | | |
| James Mortimer | | | |
| Serge Moscovici | 1925 – 2014 | Social psychologist | |
| Otakar Motejl | 1932 – 2010 | | 2000 |
| Lamia Moubayed Bissat | | | TBA (13 July 2015) |
| Paul Mounet | | | |
| Mamadou Moustapha Sall | | Secretary General of Cams | |
| Gerard Muirhead-Gould | | | |
| Brian Mulroney | | Axel Munthe, Physician and writer. | |
| Alexander Murdoch | | World War II veteran | 2019 |
| Audie Murphy | 1925 – 1971 | U.S. Army soldier, actor, songwriter | |
| John Murray (soldier) | | | |
| Leonard W. Murray | | | |
| Alfred de Musset | 1810 – 1857 | French dramatist, poet, novelist | |
| Riccardo Muti | | | |