42.3449° N, 71.0753° W

BOSTON

Most Famous People Born in Boston, United States

Notable people
3,663
Peak decade
1950s
Median birth year
1926
Most distinctive
Novelist 3.5×

America's oldest civic intelligentsia. Boston's notables are unusually concentrated in the 1700s and 1800s by American standards, and the distinctive shelves still read like a Yankee almanac — novelists, lawyers, military officers, mathematicians, and diplomats, the trades of a city where Harvard, the State House, and the Old North Church share a few square miles. The modern half tilts more conventionally toward Red Sox baseball, actors, and a deep college-bred music scene.

Through the Decades

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

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 348 notable births.

What Boston Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Actor is Boston's biggest profession — 9% of all notables (314).

Boston over-indexes on novelist3.5× the global rate.

Boston under-produces football — only 0.2× the global rate.

  1. Actor314
  2. Politician312
  3. Writer149
  4. Lawyer135
  5. Baseball110
  6. Painter106
  7. Music102
  8. Football87
  1. Novelist503.5×
  2. Baseball1102.6×
  3. Officer632.6×
  4. Mathematician452.5×
  5. Lawyer1352.1×
  6. Music1021.9×
  7. Diplomat371.7×
  8. Actor3141.6×
  1. Football870.2×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

16501700175018001850190019502000
  • Politics & Law
  • Sports
  • Writing
  • Film & TV
  • Science
  • Music
  • Other
All3,663
Sort By

Showing 21 of 3,663 notable people

0208 POLITICIAN

Samuel Dexter

1761 - 1816

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0209 ARCHITECT

Charles Bulfinch

1763 - 1844

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0390 POLITICIAN

Harrison Gray Otis (politician)

1765 - 1848

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0518 NOVELIST

William Hill Brown

1765 - 1793

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0640 EXPLORER

Joseph Ingraham

1762 - 1800

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0704 PAINTER

Mather Brown

1761 - 1831

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0881 MILITAR

Roger Hale Sheaffe

1763 - 1851

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0885 POLITICIAN

Thomas W. Thompson

1766 - 1821

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0890 OFFICER

Benjamin Hallowell Carew

1761 - 1834

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1043 EDITOR

Joseph Dennie

1768 - 1812

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1182 POLITICIAN

William Gordon (New Hampshire politician)

1763 - 1802

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1229 POLITICIAN

James Parker (Massachusetts)

1768 - 1837

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1230 BOTANIST

William Dandridge Peck

1763 - 1822

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1233 JOURNALIST

William Coleman (editor)

1766 - 1829

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1378 LAWYER

Isaac Parker (Massachusetts judge)

1768 - 1830

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1455 LIBRARIAN

Thaddeus Mason Harris

1768 - 1842

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1495 INDEPENDENCE

Thomas Handasyd Perkins

1764 - 1854

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1584 NOBLE

James Greenleaf

1765 - 1843

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2069 JOURNALIST

Benjamin Russell (journalist)

1761 - 1845

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2583 POLITICIAN

Thomas Leverett

1765 - 1833

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2712 POLITICIAN

Thomas Coffin (pre-confederation Canadian politician)

1762 - 1841

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