The French (French: Français) are an ethnic group and nation who are identified with the country of France. This connection may be legal, historical, or cultural. Descending from diverse peoples of Celtic (Gauls) origin, later mostly mixing with Italic peoples (Romans and Ligurians), and Germanic origin, which is a minority per genetic evidence (Franks, mainly in the Northeast of France), whereas the ethnonym that referred to German-speaking Franks survived to be applied to modern French. France was still a patchwork of local customs and regional differences in the late 19th century. Most French people speak the French language as their mother tongue, but certain languages like Norman, Occitan, Catalan, Auvergnat, Corsican, Basque, French Flemish, Franconian and Breton remain spoken in cer