39.2868° N, 76.6201° W
BALTIMORE
Most Famous People Born in Baltimore, United States
- Notable people
- 2,329
- Peak decade
- 1950s
- Median birth year
- 1939
- Most distinctive
- Baseball 7.0×
A port city whose distinctive professions are baseball at seven times the global rate, basketball, and an unusually thick column of officers, novelists, and lawyers — the shape of a Mid-Atlantic city that has always sat at the meeting point of the Navy yard, the courts, and the literary establishment. Frank Zappa, Babe Ruth, Michael Phelps, and Edgar Allan Poe (who died here, not born) all belong to this bench, and the 19th-century tail is heavier than in most American cities its size.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Baltimore during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 245 notable births.
What Baltimore Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Politician is Baltimore's biggest profession — 11% of all notables (255).
Baltimore over-indexes on baseball — 7.0× the global rate.
Baltimore under-produces painter — only 0.6× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Baltimore's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Writing
- Science
- Music
- Other
- Filtered to 1810s Clear ×
Alfred Jacob Miller
1810 - 1874
William H. French
1815 - 1881
Anthony Kennedy (Maryland)
1810 - 1892
William Vandever
1817 - 1893
George William Brown
1812 - 1890
Robert C. Buchanan
1811 - 1878
Paul Beck Goddard
1811 - 1866
Wendel Bollman
1814 - 1884
James Morrison Harris
1817 - 1898
Hamilton Lanphere Smith
1819 - 1903
William Kimmel
1812 - 1886
William Albert
1816 - 1879
Cornelius Leary
1813 - 1893
Benjamin F. Sands
1811 - 1883
James Lowry Donaldson
1814 - 1885
Christopher Christian Cox
1816 - 1882
Henri Mercier
1816 - 1886
William Henry Elder
1819 - 1904
James Monroe Deems
1818 - 1901
Ellis S. Chesbrough
1813 - 1886
William Procter Jr.
1817 - 1874
John M. Van Osdel
1811 - 1891
Benjamin Ignatius Hayes
1815 - 1877
H. L. Bateman
1812 - 1875
John Reese Kenly
1818 - 1891
John Beauchamp Jones
1810 - 1866
John Christian Keener
1819 - 1906
Josephine Louise Newcomb
1816 - 1901
David Williamson Carroll
1816 - 1905
James Crawford Neilson
1816 - 1900
Lewis Henry Little
1817 - 1862
William R. Travers
1819 - 1887
Edward Donaldson
1816 - 1889
George Wilson (mayor)
1816 - 1902
James Wilmer Dallam
1818 - 1847