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.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 79 notable births.

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 surgeon — 7.8× 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
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Showing 33 of 885 notable people

0017 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Arthur Keith

1866 - 1955

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0034 MILITAR

George Milne, 1st Baron Milne

1866 - 1948

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0116 ARCHITECT

George Grant Elmslie

1869 - 1952

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0119 CHEMIST

Alexander Kellas

1868 - 1921

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0161 ARCHITECT

Ninian Comper

1864 - 1960

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0176 CIVIL SERVICE

William Allardyce

1861 - 1930

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0188 ACTOR

Margaret Mann

1868 - 1941

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0193 CIVIL SERVANT

James Meston, 1st Baron Meston

1865 - 1943

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0195 POLITICIAN

George McCrae (politician)

1860 - 1928

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0239 ENGINEER

Sir Robert Williams, 1st Baronet, of Park

1860 - 1938

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0309 ACTOR

Gordon Begg

1868 - 1954

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0310 EXPLORER

James Macdonald (engineer)

1862 - 1927

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0320 JOURNALIST

Arthur Butler Phillips Mee

1860 - 1926

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0327 LINGUIST

J. N. Farquhar

1861 - 1929

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0337 NAVY

Alexander Duff (Royal Navy officer)

1862 - 1933

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0360 JOURNALIST

David Henry Souter

1862 - 1935

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0367 MAGIC

Walford Bodie

1869 - 1939

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0482 POLITICIAN

John McPherson

1860 - 1897

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0496 ENGINEER

David Carnegie (scientist)

1868 - 1949

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0523 PATHOLOGIST

William Bulloch (bacteriologist)

1868 - 1941

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0553 GENEALOGIST

Gordon de Lisle Lee

1862 - 1927

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0584 PRIEST

Anthony Mitchell (bishop)

1868 - 1917

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0681 ACTUARY

Thomas Jaffrey

1861 - 1953

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0701 SOLDIER

Charles James William Grant

1861 - 1932

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0708 LAWYER

John Joseph Dougall

1860 - 1934

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0755 SPORT

John Dunlop Lumsden

Born 1860

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0831 SEISMOLOGIST

James Edward Crombie

1862 - 1932

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0844 SURGEON

John Marnoch

1867 - 1936

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0847 GEOLOGIST

Alfred William Gibb

1864 - 1937

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0849 POLITICIAN

William James Lovie

1868 - 1938

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0853 PHOTOGRAPHER

William Beattie (photographer)

1864 - 1931

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0857 POLITICIAN

William Davidson (British Columbia politician)

Born 1867

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0863 EDUCATION

George Duthie

1865 - 1921

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