Editing Courtesan (section)

=== 18th and 19th centuries ===
[[File:Mary Nesbitt.jpg|thumb|[[Mary Nesbitt]]]]
[[File:Cora Pearl.jpg|thumb|[[Cora Pearl]]]]

* [[Binodini Dasi]] (1862–1941), Indian [[tawaif]]-actress
* [[Blanche d'Antigny]] (1840–1874), French courtesan; [[Émile Zola]] used her as the principal model for his novel ''[[Nana (novel)|Nana]]''
* [[Catherine Walters]] (1839–1920), British courtesan
* [[Charlotte Slottsberg]] (1760–1800), Swedish courtesan-ballerina, lover, but not official royal mistress of [[Charles XIII]] of Sweden
* [[Claudine Guérin de Tencin]] (1681–1749), French courtesan and later a famous salonnière
* [[Cora Pearl]] (1836–1886), ''[[demimonde]]''-courtesan ("Grande Horizontale") of the [[Second French Empire|Second Empire]]
* [[The Countess (trans woman)|The Countess]], also known as Pauline, a French transgender courtesan and singer in Paris of the 1850s and 1860s
* [[Dorothea Jordan|Dorothy Jordan]] (1761–1816), British courtesan-actress
* [[Eliza Lynch]] (1835–1886), Irish courtesan, de facto wife of [[Francisco Solano López]], president of Paraguay
* [[Emma, Lady Hamilton|Emma Hamilton]] (1765–1815), English model-actress, wife of [[William Hamilton (diplomat)|William Hamilton]] and mistress of [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Lord Nelson]]
* [[Grace Elliott]] (1754?–1823), British courtesan
* [[Harriette Wilson]] (1786–1846), British courtesan
* [[Josefa Ordóñez]] (1728 – d. ''after'' 1792), Mexican courtesan-actress
* [[Kitty Fisher]] (died 1767), British courtesan and model
* [[La Belle Otero]] (1868–1965), Spanish courtesan
* [[La Païva]] (1819–1884), French ''[[demimonde]]''-courtesan ('Grande Horizontale') of the [[Second French Empire|Second Empire]]
* [[Liane de Pougy]] (1869–1950), French courtesan and [[Folies Bergère]]-dancer
* [[Lola Montez]] (1821–1861), Irish dancer, mistress of king [[Ludwig&nbsp;I of Bavaria]]
* [[Madame du Barry]] (1743–1793), French courtesan, last [[Maîtresse-en-titre]] of [[Louis XV of France]]
* [[Mah Laqa Bai]] (7 April 1768 – August 1824), Indian [[tawaif]] and poet
* [[Marie Duplessis]] (1824–1847), French courtesan, one of the best known from the era of Louis Philippe
* [[Marie-Louise O'Murphy]] (1737–1814), French courtesan, lover, but not official royal mistress of [[Louis XV of France]]
* [[Marthe de Florian]] (1864–1939), French courtesan and socialite
* [[Mary Nesbitt]] (1742–1825), British courtesan and spy
* [[Mata Hari]] (1876–1917), courtesan and spy
* [[Olympe Pélissier]] (1799–1878), French courtesan and model, second wife of [[Gioachino Rossini]]
* [[Rosalie Duthé]] (1748–1830), French courtesan, has been called "the first officially recorded [[blonde stereotype|dumb blonde]]"
* [[Sai Jinhua]] (1872–1936), Chinese courtesan
* [[Sophia Baddeley]] (1745–1786), British courtesan
* [[Støvlet-Cathrine]] (1745–1805), Danish courtesan, lover, but not official royal mistress of King [[Christian VII of Denmark]]
* [[Zofia Potocka]] (1760–1822), Greek courtesan, mistress of [[Grigory Potemkin]] and wife of [[Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki|Szczęsny Potocki]]