36.8508° S, 174.7829° E

AUCKLAND

Most Famous People Born in Auckland, New Zealand

Notable people
2,037
Peak decade
1980s
Median birth year
1971
Most distinctive
Rugby 27.8×

A Pacific city whose distinctive professions are, more than anywhere else in the dataset, rugby and cricket players with netballers and rowers close behind. More than forty per cent of Auckland's notables are cricketers or other players, and its most famous son is Edmund Hillary. The 19th-century tail only starts in the 1840s — the city itself is younger than its oldest named resident — and the modern bench is filling up with actors from the Peter Jackson pipeline.

Through the Decades

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

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 406 notable births.

What Auckland Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Player is Auckland's biggest profession — 31% of all notables (623).

Auckland over-indexes on rugby27.8× the global rate.

Auckland under-produces politician — only 0.4× the global rate.

  1. Player623
  2. Cricket292
  3. Actor86
  4. Politician86
  5. Football85
  6. Sport62
  7. Rugby39
  8. Painter37
  1. Rugby3927.8×
  2. Player62315.7×
  3. Cricket29211.3×
  4. Rower334.4×
  5. Swimmer353.5×
  6. Boxer232.9×
  7. Sport621.8×
  1. Politician860.4×
  2. Football850.4×
  3. Painter370.7×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

1850187519001925195019752000
  • Sports
  • Film & TV
  • Politics & Law
  • Art & Design
  • Writing
  • Music
  • Other
All2,037
Sort By

Showing 11 of 2,037 notable people

0971 POLITICIAN

Edwin Mitchelson

1846 - 1934

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1032 POLITICIAN

John Sheehan (New Zealand politician)

1844 - 1885

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1200 POLITICIAN

Frank Buckland (politician)

1847 - 1915

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1416 CRICKET

Robert Yates (cricketer)

1845 - 1931

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1561 CRICKET

Michael Foley (cricketer)

1844 - 1904

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1609 POLITICIAN

Robert Fitzgerald (Australian politician)

1846 - 1933

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1665 LAWYER

Robert Hughes (conservationist)

1847 - 1935

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1687 SURVEYOR

William Australia Graham

1841 - 1916

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1883 CRICKET

Charles Gleeson

1845 - 1931

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1982 ARMY

Joseph Henry Laye

1849 - 1938

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2009 POLITICIAN

John Channing Buckland

1844 - 1909

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