54.5964° N, 5.9301° W

BELFAST

Most Famous People Born in Belfast, United Kingdom

Notable people
1,393
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1949
Most distinctive
Loyalist 272.1×

A divided city whose most distinctive profession in the entire dataset, at more than two hundred times the global rate, is loyalist — paired with republican at more than thirty, the statistical footprint of the Troubles. Belfast's other distinctive shelves are boxers, rugby players (grouped as 'player'), footballers, and cricketers at concentrations that outpace every other city on the island. Van Morrison, George Best, Kenneth Branagh, and C.S. Lewis all grew up within walking distance of the Lagan, and the 19th-century shipbuilding establishment that built the Titanic anchors the older half of the bench.

Through the Decades

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

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 179 notable births.

What Belfast Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Football is Belfast's biggest profession — 23% of all notables (321).

Belfast over-indexes on loyalist272.1× the global rate.

Belfast under-produces painter — only 0.5× the global rate.

  1. Football321
  2. Politician160
  3. Actor77
  4. Player59
  5. Boxer36
  6. Cricket34
  7. Writer32
  8. Sport28
  1. Loyalist21272.1×
  2. Republican1632.3×
  3. Boxer366.5×
  4. Player592.2×
  5. Football3212.1×
  6. Cricket341.9×
  1. Painter180.5×
  2. Writer320.7×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

1700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Music
  • Other
All1,393
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Showing 17 of 1,393 notable people

0023 MATHEMATICIAN

Joseph Larmor

1857 - 1942

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0034 ENGINEER

William Mulholland

1855 - 1935

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0037 PAINTER

John Lavery

1856 - 1941

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0224 ZOOLOGIST

James Douglas Ogilby

1853 - 1925

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0366 POLITICIAN

John M. C. Smith

1853 - 1923

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0679 PLAYER

Thomas Gisborne Gordon

1851 - 1935

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0690 PAINTER

James Ward (Irish artist)

1851 - 1924

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0791 POLITICIAN

Thomas Sinclair (politician)

1857 - 1940

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0792 GEOLOGIST

Mary Andrews (geologist)

1854 - 1914

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0794 TEACHER

Henry Reichel

1856 - 1931

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0830 FOOTBALL

Jack Hastings

1858 - 1935

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1040 SURGEON

A. J. McCosh

1858 - 1908

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1155 ARCHITECT

Pascual Herraiz y Silo

1859 - 1903

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1229 FOOTBALL

James Buckle

1854 - 1884

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1265 POLITICIAN

Adam Brown Crosby

1856 - 1921

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1273 CRICKET

William Vint (cricketer)

1851 - 1897

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1294 FOOTBALL

James Hamilton (calciatore 1858)

1859 - 1932

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