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.
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 loyalist — 272.1× the global rate.
Belfast under-produces painter — only 0.5× the global rate.
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.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Writing
- Science
- Music
- Other
- Filtered to 1860s Clear ×
George A. Birmingham
1865 - 1950
Ernest MacBride
1866 - 1940
William Magennis
1867 - 1946
Olphert Stanfield
1869 - 1952
Jack Peden
1863 - 1944
George Morrow (illustrator)
1869 - 1955
Billy Crone
1863 - 1944
Frederick H. Crawford
1861 - 1952
Samuel Bill
1864 - 1942
Charles Rafter
1860 - 1935
Archie Goodall
1864 - 1929
John Alexander McCullough
1860 - 1947
Dolway Walkington
1867 - 1926
Samuel Johnston (footballer)
1866 - 1910
Margaret Matilda White
1868 - 1910
Samuel McAllister
1869 - 1903
Sam Torrans
1869 - 1948
Hugh Langwell
1860 - 1933
Willie Hume
1862 - 1941
Jackson Palmer
1867 - 1919
Sir William Coates, 1st Baronet
1866 - 1932
Robert Noble Jones
1864 - 1942
Letitia Alice Walkington
Born 1868
Arthur George Paul
1864 - 1942
John McVickers
Born 1868
Augustus Edward Dixon
1861 - 1946