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 1900s Clear ×
Louis MacNeice
1907 - 1963
Eileen Percy
1900 - 1973
Howard Ferguson (composer)
1908 - 1999
Jackie Wright
1905 - 1989
Joe Bambrick
1905 - 1983
H. Montgomery Hyde
1907 - 1989
William MacQuitty
1905 - 2004
Theodore William Moody
1907 - 1984
Eirene White, Baroness White
1909 - 1999
Edward Allworthy Armstrong
1900 - 1978
James Moody (composer)
1907 - 1995
Muriel Brandt
1909 - 1981
Nora Fisher McMillan
1908 - 2003
John Luke (artist)
1906 - 1975
John Greenlees Semple
1904 - 1985
Nesca Robb
1905 - 1976
Fred Roberts (footballer, born 1905)
1905 - 1988
Henry C. Gunning
1901 - 1991
Thomas Carr (artist)
1909 - 1999
Andy Bothwell
1900 - 1928
J. G. Devlin
1907 - 1991
Ian Fraser (surgeon)
1901 - 1999
James Johnston (tenor)
1903 - 1991
William Christopher Atkinson
1902 - 1992
John Fegan (actor)
1907 - 1981
Thelma Percy
1903 - 1970
Ivan Neill
1906 - 2001
Jack Siggins
1909 - 1995
Robert Eric Charles Browne
1906 - 1975
Padraig Marrinan
1906 - 1975
Tom Watson (footballer, born 1902)
1902 - 1978
Irene Calvert
1909 - 2000
George Currie (Northern Irish politician)
1905 - 1978
Janet Quigley
1902 - 1987
Alfred Jordan (footballer)
1900 - 1969
Tom Hewitt
1905 - 1991
David Addis
1901 - 1963
Sam Templeton
1900 - 1942
Bill Gowdy
1903 - 1958
Paddy McIlvenny (footballer, born 1900)
1900 - 1931
Eileen Law
1900 - 1978
Tom Willighan
1903 - 1936
Sean McGreevy
Born 1901
Davy Jordan
1908 - 1989
Alfred Leonard Caiels
1909 - 1991
George Crothers
1909 - 1982
Henry Kenneth Cowan
1900 - 1971
Hugh Flack
Born 1903