The Faroese or Faroe Islanders (Føroyingar) are a Germanic ethnic group native to the Faeroe Islands. The Faroese are of mixed Norse and Gaelic origins. About 21,000 Faroese live in neighbouring countries, particularly in Denmark, Iceland and Norway.

The Faroese language is a West Scandinavian language, closely related to Icelandic and more distantly to western Norwegian dialects.

The first colonists were Gaelic hermits and monks who arrived in the 6th century.

Later from around 650 the Norse-Gaels came and brought Norse culture and language to the islands. Little is known about this period, thus giving room for speculation. A single source mentions early settlement, the Icelandic Færeyinga Saga. It was written somewhere around 1200, and it explains events taking place about 300 years earlier. According to the saga, many Norsemen objected to the Norwegian king's unification politics and thus fled to other countries, including the new found places in the west.

Historians have understood since the time of the Færeyinga Saga that the Viking Grímur Kamban was the first settler in the Faroes. The Norwegians must have known about the isles before leaving Norway. If Grímur Kamban had settled some time earlier, this could explain the Norwegians knowing about them. Another, more logical explanation might be that the Norwegians came to know about the islands by the Gaels of Scotland and Ireland.

This is a list of famous or important Faroese people. In a small island-society of fewer than 50,000 inhabitants, each person can gain certain meaning for the entire nation. The people listed below, are among those, who played or play a distinct role in Faroese culture, politics and history. Many of them are renowned outside the Faroes, especially in Denmark and other Nordic countries.

Village People is a concept disco group that formed in the United States in 1977, well known for their on-stage costumes depicting American cultural stereotypes, as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics.

Originally created to target disco's gay audience by featuring popular gay fantasy personas, the band's popularity quickly brought them into the mainstream. Village People scored a number of disco and dance hits, including their trademark "Macho Man", "Go West", the classic club medley of "San Francisco (You've Got Me) / In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star)", "In the Navy", "Can't Stop the Music", and their biggest hit, "Y.M.C.A.".

They have sold upwards of 100 million records world-wide.

The group was the creation of Jacques Morali, a French musical composer. He had written a few dance tunes when he was given a demo tape recorded by singer/actor Victor Willis. Morali approached Willis and told him, "I had a dream that you sang lead on my album and it went very, very big". Willis agreed to sing on the first album, Village People.

Peter James "Pete" Bethune (born 4 April 1965) is a New Zealand promoter of bio-fuels and conservationist. He is the holder of the world record for the fastest trip around the world in a powerboat and was involved with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. He was captain of the Ady Gil (previously the Earthrace) until it sank after a collision with a Japanese whaling vessel. He was convicted in Japan for a direct action that involved boarding that whaling vessel to arrest the captain and received a suspended sentence.

Bethune grew up in Hamilton East, New Zealand as one of five children. He studied science at the University of Waikato and engineering at the University of Auckland. He has two daughters with his wife, Sharyn, his high school sweetheart, from whom he is separated.

He began his career as an oil exploration engineer and worked in the North Sea and Libya. In 1997, he co-founded CamSensor Technologies. The company manufactured automated camera systems for controlling robots used in complex tasks such as cutting up and grading meat carcasses. He later moved to Sydney to establish the business there.

Lena Anderssen is a Faroese-Canadian singer-songwriter best known for her award winning album "Let Your Scars Dance." Although the lyrics to her songs are all written in English, she is also fluent in both Faroese and Danish.

Anderssen was born in the Faroe Islands to a Canadian-Norwegian father and a Faroese mother but moved to Canada when she was 2 years old. Her family relocated numerous times in the following years to Victoria and Vancouver in British Columbia; Thunder Bay, Ontario; and Montreal, Quebec. As a young teenager, she moved back to the land of her birth. Norwegian drummer Remi Fagereng was visiting a coffee shop in the Faroese capital of Tórshavn, where Anderssen worked, when he overheard her singing to herself and realized her talent. Weeks later, she joined his cover band, Next Step.

After playing one of the main characters in the successful Faroese musical "Skeyk," Anderssen began collaborating with its musical composer, Niclas Johannesen. Together, they wrote the songs that comprised her debut album Long Distance, which was produced by Johannesen and released in the Faroe Islands only.