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 1880s Clear ×
Una O'Connor (actress)
1880 - 1959
Benjamin Glazer
1887 - 1956
Albert Sharpe
1885 - 1970
Seán MacEntee
1889 - 1984
Bulmer Hobson
1883 - 1969
St. John Greer Ervine
1883 - 1971
Herbert Hughes (composer)
1882 - 1937
William Lewis (physical chemist)
1885 - 1956
Robert Foster Kennedy
1884 - 1952
Joseph Connolly (Irish politician)
1885 - 1961
Denis McCullough
1883 - 1968
Mabel McConnell Fitzgerald
1884 - 1958
Bill McCracken
1883 - 1979
Mickey Hamill
1889 - 1943
William MacArthur (British Army officer)
1884 - 1964
Herbert Dixon, 1st Baron Glentoran
1880 - 1950
Albert Stewart (rugby union)
1889 - 1917
Arthur Wilson Stelfox
1883 - 1972
William Tyrrell (RAF officer)
1885 - 1968
Sarah Chinnery
1887 - 1970
Henry Barniville
1887 - 1960
Francis Guy (cyclist)
1885 - 1947
Walter Smiles
1883 - 1953
James Patrick Gardner
1883 - 1937
Irish McIlveen
1880 - 1960
James Sheridan (footballer)
1882 - 1960
Walter Kirk
1887 - 1961
Harry Buckle
Born 1882
William Purdon
1881 - 1950
Tommy Smyth (rugby union)
1884 - 1928
Robert George Clements
1880 - 1947
Dick Campbell (Australian footballer)
1884 - 1949
Billy Scott (footballer, born 1884)
1882 - 1936
Arthur Norman McClinton
1886 - 1929
William Clay (footballer)
Born 1883
William Ernest George Johnston
1884 - 1951
Archie Heggarty
1884 - 1951
Harold Jackson (cricketer)
1888 - 1979
John D. M. McCallum
1883 - 1967