57.1501° N, 2.1018° W

ABERDEEN

Most Famous People Born in Aberdeen, United Kingdom

Notable people
885
Peak decade
1980s
Median birth year
1911
Most distinctive
Surgeon 7.8×

Granite-city overachievers: the Surgeon and Physician benches reflect the medical school that trained the founders of modern anaesthesia and tropical medicine, and the Botanist cluster comes from Kew-adjacent plant hunters who combed the empire. The Golf reading is simply what happens when your coastline invented the sport.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Aberdeen during each.

What Aberdeen Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Football is Aberdeen's biggest profession — 22% of all notables (195).

Aberdeen over-indexes on surgeon7.8× the global rate.

Aberdeen under-produces actor — only 0.6× the global rate.

  1. Football195
  2. Politician79
  3. Actor27
  4. Painter20
  5. Writer19
  6. Physician18
  7. Poet15
  8. Historian15
  1. Surgeon97.8×
  2. Golf106.7×
  3. Botanist123.4×
  4. Physician183.0×
  5. Mathematician102.3×
  6. Engineer122.2×
  7. Football1952.0×
  8. Poet151.6×
  1. Actor270.6×
  2. Writer190.7×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Aberdeen's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

15001550160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Science
  • Politics & Law
  • Writing
  • Art & Design
  • Music
  • Other
All885
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Showing 23 of 885 notable people

0080 PHOTOGRAPHER

George Washington Wilson

1823 - 1893

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0135 PATHOLOGIST

Sir Andrew Clark, 1st Baronet

1826 - 1893

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0151 NATURALIST

John MacGillivray

1821 - 1867

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0155 LITERARY

David Masson

1822 - 1907

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0255 ENGINEER

James Staats Forbes

1823 - 1904

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0259 EXPLORER

George Elphinstone Dalrymple

1826 - 1876

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0314 BIOGRAPHER

William Garden Blaikie

1820 - 1899

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0332 HYMNWRITER

Walter Chalmers Smith

1824 - 1908

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0353 ARCHITECT

Robert Kerr (architect)

1823 - 1904

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0371 ENGINEER

Charles Mitchell (shipbuilder)

1820 - 1895

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0380 PHOTOGRAPHER

James Matthews Duncan

1826 - 1890

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0387 SCIENTIST

Thomas Jamieson

1829 - 1913

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0398 PAINTER

John Finnie (painter)

1829 - 1907

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0440 ERUDITE

William Duguid Geddes

1828 - 1900

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0471 POLITICIAN

Francis Ormond

1827 - 1889

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0484 BUSINESS

John Paterson (Cape politician)

1822 - 1880

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0528 POLITICIAN

Horace Forbes, 19th Lord Forbes

1829 - 1914

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0530 MATHEMATICIAN

Charles Macdonald (professor)

1828 - 1901

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0661 MINISTER

Hugh Martin (Scottish minister)

1822 - 1885

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0674 JOURNALIST

Charles Fraser (minister)

1823 - 1886

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0762 LIEUTENANT

James Leith (VC)

1826 - 1869

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0776 REFORMER

Angelica Fraser

1823 - 1910

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0810 MINISTER

John Smith Walker

1826 - 1893

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