Ville (French pronunciation: [vil]) is the modern French word of Latin origin now meaning city or town, but the first meaning in the middle-ages was farm (from Latin villa rustica) and then village. The derivative suffix "-ville" is commonly used in English in names of cities, towns and villages.

Ville is also a name for a boy in Finland and Sweden.

According to toponymist George R. Stewart, the use of the suffix -ville for settlements in the United States did not begin until after the American Revolution. Previously, town-names did not usually use suffixes unless named after European towns in which case the name was borrowed wholly. When a suffix was needed, -town (or the word Town) was typically added (as in Charleston, South Carolina, originally Charles Town). In the middle of the 18th century the suffixes -borough (-boro) and -burgh (-burg) came into style. The use of -town (-ton) also increased, in part due to the increasing use of personal names for new settlements. Thus the settlement founded by William Trent became known as Trenton. These three suffixes, -town/-ton, -borough/-boro, and -burgh/-burg became popular before the Revolution, while -ville was almost completely unused until afterward. Its post-revolutionary popularity, along with the decline in the use of -town, was due in part to the pro-French sentiments which spread through the country after the war. The founding of Louisville, Kentucky, in 1780, for example, used not only the French suffix but the name of the French king. The popularity of -ville was most popular in the southern and western (Appalachian) regions of the new country, and less popular in New England.

Ville Hermanni Valo (born November 22, 1976) is a Finnish singer, songwriter and frontman of the Finnish rock band HIM. He has received the "Golden God" award in 2004 by the heavy metal magazine Metal Hammer. Valo has a baritone vocal range, and has maintained a 4 octave range in full voice, from F1 to F5, Valo was ranked number 80 in Hit Paraders Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time.

Ville Hermanni Valo was born in the Vallila district of Helsinki. His father, Kari, is Finnish and his mother, Anita, is of Hungarian descent. Soon after his birth, the family moved to the riverside community of Oulunkylä where they lived throughout his teenage years. In 1984 his younger brother and only sibling Jesse was born. In his late teens, he worked at his father's sex shop and later moved out on his own when he was 18.

As a child, Valo was exposed to the songs of popular Finnish performers such as Tapio Rautavaara and Rauli Badding Somerjoki. In various interviews he has cited his favourite artists include Tapio Rautavaara, King Diamond, Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki, Elvis Presley, Neil Young, and Dir En Grey, as well as bands such as Fields of the Nephilim, The Sisters of Mercy, Black Sabbath, Type O Negative, Depeche Mode, Iron Maiden, Kiss, and The Stooges.

Mikko Henrik Julius Paananen (born 19 December 1974), better known as Migé or Migé Amour, is the current and founding bassist of the rock band HIM.

Paananen was born in Helsinki, Finland on 19 December 1974. He lived in Oulunkylä until he was 13 years of age, when his parents divorced and his father moved elsewhere. The family then moved to Tuusula, about 30 km north of Helsinki.

Paananen grew up in an artistic family and by his father music took his heart. When with his father, he was always in places that were surrounded with different instruments. The instruments acted as toys for Paananen and he spent a lot of time with them. Paananen thinks that the reason he picked up the music was for his relatives. The musicians were cooler in the eyes of a young Paananen. His father listened to classical music and mother listened to "Fucking Operettas".

According to an interview Ville Valo had in German gothic magazine Sonic Seducer, Paananen is planning to release a solo album in 2011 which Valo will be mixing. Mige's new album, Cimmerica, is in scarce supply. It can, however, be heard on HIM's official website.

Natalia Avelon (born 29 March 1980) is a Polish-German actress and singer.

Natalia Avelon was born Natalia Siwek on 29 March 1980 in Wrocław, Poland. When she was eight years old she moved to Germany with her parents.

She played 1960s sex symbol Uschi Obermaier in Achim Bornhak's 2007 film Das Wilde Leben.

Avelon performed with HIM lead singer, Ville Valo the duet of Lee Hazlewood's song "Summer Wine", which is part of the Das Wilde Leben soundtrack.

Sébastien Tellier (born November 30, 1974, Paris) is a French singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is currently signed to Record Makers, a French independent record label. He sings in English, French and Italian.

Tellier's first album, L'incroyable Vérité (The Incredible Truth), was released in 2001. Tellier went on tour with Air in support of the album and was joined on stage by world-renowned theremin player Pamelia Kurstin. L'incroyable Vérité is a pop album featuring styles from lo-fi electronica to bizarre cabaret tunes.^{[citation needed]} Its sleeve featured Tellier in full evening dress on the front, while the back of jacket had a shot of him cavorting in a playboy's pool. He instructed listeners only to listen to the album by candlelight.

Tellier followed L'incroyable Vérité with his second studio album Politics (2005). A particularly popular song from Politics was "La Ritournelle", a string-led tune, which featured Nigerian drummer, Tony Allen of Fela Kuti fame. "La Ritournelle" was remixed by various artists, notably in Britain by Metronomy.