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 32 of 2,037 notable people

0053 JOURNALIST

Harold Williams (linguist)

1876 - 1928

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0085 PAINTER

C. F. Goldie

1870 - 1947

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0257 METALLURGIST

Matthew Hunter

1878 - 1961

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0396 PLAYER

George William Smith (sportsman)

1874 - 1954

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0580 PLAYER

George Nicholson (rugby player)

1878 - 1968

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0628 ILLUSTRATOR

Harry Rountree

1878 - 1950

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0672 MILITAR

Alfred Bessell-Browne

1877 - 1947

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0718 PLAYER

George Tyler (rugby union)

1879 - 1942

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0788 PAINTER

Mabel Hill

1872 - 1956

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0852 PLAYER

Simon Mynott

1876 - 1924

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0917 POLITICIAN

Alexander Young (New Zealand politician)

1875 - 1956

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1093 ARMY

Norman Frederick Hastings

1879 - 1915

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1120 POLITICIAN

Vernon Reed

1871 - 1963

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1165 CRICKET

Douglas Hay

1876 - 1967

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1252 PLAYER

Lance Todd

1874 - 1942

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1266 FOOTBALL

Alf McDougall

1876 - 1948

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1325 POLITICIAN

James Gunson

1877 - 1963

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1382 CRICKET

Harold Lusk

1877 - 1961

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1434 PLAYER

Francis Jervis

1870 - 1952

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1447 SPORT

Walter Denison

1870 - 1954

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1514 WORKER

Cybele Ethel Kirk

1870 - 1957

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1585 CRICKET

Charles Gorry

1878 - 1950

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1646 CRICKET

Newell Lusk

1875 - 1956

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1744 CRICKET

William Mills (New Zealand cricketer)

1875 - 1962

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1761 CRICKET

Daniel Clayton

1875 - 1938

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1829 CRICKET

Carlton Hay

1875 - 1945

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1848 CRICKET

Alfred Sloman

1874 - 1938

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1927 PLAYER

Charles Speight (rugby union)

1870 - 1935

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1971 PLAYER

Sid Riley

1878 - 1964

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1980 PLAYER

Robert Handcock (rugby union)

1874 - 1956

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1991 SPORT

Alex Wilson (rugby union)

1874 - 1932

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2022 POLITICIAN

William Grounds

1874 - 1958

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