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 120 of 3,663 notable people

0040 LAWYER

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

1841 - 1935

Preview
0114 PAINTER

Lilla Cabot Perry

1848 - 1933

Preview
0132 ASTRONOMER

Edward Charles Pickering

1846 - 1919

Preview
0146 PAINTER

Abbott Handerson Thayer

1849 - 1921

Preview
0260 NATURALIST

William Healey Dall

1845 - 1927

Preview
0268 PAINTER

Edwin Lord Weeks

1849 - 1903

Preview
0285 CHEMIST

Frank Wigglesworth Clarke

1847 - 1931

Preview
0309 BOTANIST

Charles Sprague Sargent

1841 - 1927

Preview
0313 ECONOMIST

Francis Amasa Walker

1840 - 1897

Preview
0345 WRITER

Julian Hawthorne

1846 - 1934

Preview
0374 ASTRONOMER

Seth Carlo Chandler

1846 - 1913

Preview
0457 PHOTOGRAPHER

Marian Hooper Adams

1843 - 1885

Preview
0503 BOTANIST

William Gilson Farlow

1844 - 1919

Preview
0515 WRITER

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward

1844 - 1911

Preview
0524 ENTREPRENEUR

Albert Augustus Pope

1843 - 1909

Preview
0645 JOURNALIST

Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin

1842 - 1924

Preview
0663 BOTANIST

Horace Mann Jr.

1844 - 1868

Preview
0676 PHYSIOLOGIST

Henry Pickering Bowditch

1840 - 1911

Preview
0689 NEUROLOGIST

James Jackson Putnam

1846 - 1918

Preview
0744 POLITICIAN

Roger Wolcott (Massachusetts)

1847 - 1900

Preview
0748 ARCHITECT

Charles B. Atwood

1849 - 1895

Preview
0768 PAINTER

James Wells Champney

1843 - 1903

Preview
0793 BOTANIST

Edward Lewis Sturtevant

1842 - 1898

Preview
0844 WRITER

Julian Sturgis

1848 - 1904

Preview
0849 PAINTER

Elizabeth Boott

1846 - 1888

Preview
0951 BOTANIST

William Tufts Brigham

1841 - 1926

Preview
0977 PAINTER

De Scott Evans

1847 - 1898

Preview
1056 POLITICIAN

Edward Burnett

1849 - 1925

Preview
1094 POLITICIAN

Selwyn Z. Bowman

1840 - 1928

Preview
1102 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Charles Pickering Bowditch

1842 - 1921

Preview
1128 ENGINEER

Clemens Herschel

1842 - 1930

Preview
1141 GEOLOGIST

Samuel Franklin Emmons

1841 - 1911

Preview
1152 GEOLOGIST

Arnold Hague

1840 - 1917

Preview
1161 PHILOSOPHER

George Herbert Palmer

1842 - 1933

Preview
1220 METALLURGIST

Henry Marion Howe

1848 - 1922

Preview
1295 PAINTER

George Albert Frost

1843 - 1907

Preview
1311 ACADEMIC

James Barr Ames

1846 - 1910

Preview
1313 GYNECOLOGIST

James Read Chadwick

1844 - 1905

Preview
1388 BIOGRAPHER

John Torrey Morse

1840 - 1937

Preview
1391 POLITICIAN

James A. D. Richards

1845 - 1911

Preview
1447 BUSINESS

James T. Bates

1844 - 1914

Preview
1452 SOLDIER

Frank Morey

1840 - 1890

Preview
1458 PAINTER

Henry Oliver Walker

1843 - 1929

Preview
1467 ACADEMIC

Francis Greenwood Peabody

1847 - 1936

Preview
1469 MISSIONARY

Alice Gordon Gulick

1847 - 1903

Preview
1496 CHEMIST

Charles Loring Jackson

1845 - 1935

Preview
1500 POLITICIAN

Charles Edward Coffin

1841 - 1912

Preview
1540 COMPOSER

Frederic Woodman Root

1846 - 1916

Preview
1610 ARCHITECT

William G. Preston

1842 - 1910

Preview
1737 ARTIST

Theodore R. Davis

1840 - 1894

Preview
1766 PAINTER

Frederic Crowninshield

1845 - 1918

Preview
1775 MURDER

Josie Mansfield

1847 - 1931

Preview
1797 SUFFRAGETTE

Fanny Garrison Villard

1844 - 1928

Preview
1799 TEACHER

Thomas Dwight

1843 - 1911

Preview
1836 ACADEMIC

Gaetano Lanza

1848 - 1928

Preview
1947 JOURNALIST

Charles H. Taylor (publisher)

1846 - 1921

Preview
1950 ARCHITECT

Theophilus P. Chandler Jr.

1845 - 1928

Preview
2004 NOVELIST

Thomas Russell Sullivan

1849 - 1916

Preview
2032 OFFICER

Francis J. Higginson

1843 - 1931

Preview
2077 ARTIST

Ellen Thayer Fisher

1847 - 1911

Preview
2082 PHYSICIAN

Burt Green Wilder

1841 - 1925

Preview
2169 SURGEON

John Collins Warren Jr.

1842 - 1927

Preview
2172 PRIEST

Matthew Harkins

1845 - 1921

Preview
2273 POET

Hattie Tyng Griswold

1842 - 1909

Preview
2283 PHYSICIAN

William J. Morton

1846 - 1920

Preview
2305 MILITAR

Joseph H. De Castro

1844 - 1892

Preview
2312 BOOKSELLER

Charles Carroll Soule

1842 - 1913

Preview
2322 LECTURER

Juliet Corson

1841 - 1897

Preview
2323 PAINTER

Alexander Pope Jr.

1849 - 1924

Preview
2338 PAINTER

Frank Hill Smith

1842 - 1904

Preview
2396 POET

Augusta Joyce Crocheron

1844 - 1915

Preview
2400 POLITICIAN

William H. Hodgkins

1840 - 1905

Preview
2418 ENGINEER

William Herbert Bixby

1849 - 1928

Preview
2450 COMMANDER

Nathaniel M. Allen

1840 - 1900

Preview
2484 POLITICIAN

Patrick H. McCarren

1849 - 1909

Preview
2509 CARTOONIST

Charles G. Bush

1842 - 1909

Preview
2516 PASTOR

George Edmands Merrill

1846 - 1908

Preview
2522 ACTOR

Daniel Gilfether

1849 - 1919

Preview
2537 BANK

John Donald Daly

1841 - 1923

Preview
2553 HISTORIAN

Florence Hall (Pulitzer Prize winner)

1845 - 1922

Preview
2591 KUNST

James William Pattison

1844 - 1915

Preview
2599 ARMY

Charles A. Coolidge

1844 - 1926

Preview
2618 POLITICIAN

George G. Crocker

1843 - 1913

Preview
2657 EDUCATOR

Horace Bumstead

1841 - 1919

Preview
2722 MILITAR

Robert Shaw Oliver

1847 - 1935

Preview
2748 WRITER

John Trowbridge

1845 - 1923

Preview
2788 ARMY

Frederick C. Anderson

1842 - 1882

Preview
2833 BALLOONIST

Mary Myers

1849 - 1932

Preview
2859 BOTANIST

Walter Deane

1848 - 1930

Preview
2905 WRITER

Alice Wellington Rollins

1847 - 1897

Preview
2921 PHOTOGRAPHER

Menzies Dickson

1840 - 1891

Preview
2922 LAWYER

Adolphus W. Green

1844 - 1917

Preview
2927 LIEUTENANT

William Troy

1848 - 1907

Preview
2977 ARCHITECT

Edgar Allen Poe Newcomb

1846 - 1923

Preview
3008 MILITAR

Frederick S. Neilon

1846 - 1916

Preview
3031 NAVY

John McFarland (Medal of Honor)

1840 - 1881

Preview
3062 OFFICER

Thomas H. Dunham

1840 - 1925

Preview
3068 FISHER

Thomas Harcourt (Medal of Honor)

Born 1841

Preview
3105 BUSINESS

Edmund C. Converse

1849 - 1921

Preview
3146 POLITICIAN

Gardner S. Hardee

1842 - 1926

Preview
3155 MISSING

Frank H. Newcomb

1846 - 1934

Preview
3162 PHILANTHROPIST

Harriet Nevins

1841 - 1929

Preview
3257 SOLDIER

James Brady (Medal of Honor)

1842 - 1904

Preview
3275 EXECUTIVE

Thomas Fletcher Oakes

1843 - 1919

Preview
3304 SOLDIER

West Funk

1841 - 1897

Preview
3305 ACTOR

Neil Burgess

1846 - 1910

Preview
3363 POLITICIAN

James Morris Whiton Hall

1842 - 1926

Preview
3394 OFFICER

Percival C. Pope

1841 - 1922

Preview
3429 WRITER

Harriet Abbott Lincoln Coolidge

1849 - 1902

Preview
3462 SOLDIER

John H. Brown (Medal of Honor)

1842 - 1898

Preview
3473 OFFICER

Joseph Cushing Edmands

1842 - 1878

Preview
3490 OFFICER

Arthur R. Curtis

1842 - 1925

Preview
3500 POLITICIAN

Henry E. Turner (Massachusetts politician)

1842 - 1911

Preview
3508 ASTRONOMER

Aaron Nichols Skinner

1845 - 1918

Preview
3517 SOPRANO

Emma Aline Osgood

1849 - 1911

Preview
3569 SOLDIER

Levi B. Gaylord

1840 - 1900

Preview
3615 SUFFRAGETTE

Adelaide Avery Claflin

1846 - 1931

Preview
3636 ACADEMIC

Edward Hyde Rice

1847 - 1895

Preview
3654 WRITER

Robert Means Lawrence

1847 - 1935

Preview
3655 SUFFRAGIST

Abbie Howard Hunt Stuart

1840 - 1902

Preview