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 133 of 3,663 notable people

0098 ENTREPRENEUR

William C. Durant

1861 - 1947

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0137 ATHLETE

James Brendan Connolly

1868 - 1957

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0160 POLITICIAN

John F. Fitzgerald

1863 - 1950

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0202 PHOTOGRAPHER

F. Holland Day

1864 - 1933

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0280 ARTIST

Will H. Bradley

1868 - 1962

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0328 POLITICIAN

William Hale Thompson

1869 - 1944

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0389 PLAYER

Richard Sears (tennis)

1861 - 1943

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0417 MATHEMATICIAN

William Fogg Osgood

1864 - 1943

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0432 MATHEMATICIAN

Maxime Bôcher

1867 - 1918

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0497 COMPOSER

Wilhelm Berger

1861 - 1911

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0523 ACADEMIC

Charles Warren (U.S. author)

1868 - 1954

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0565 NOVELIST

Gelett Burgess

1866 - 1951

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0590 COMPOSER

Margaret Ruthven Lang

1867 - 1972

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0602 COLLECTOR

Edward Perry Warren

1860 - 1928

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0629 HISTORIAN

Archibald Cary Coolidge

1866 - 1928

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0699 PHYSICIAN

Ernest Amory Codman

1869 - 1940

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0719 LAWYER

Charles Sumner Hamlin

1861 - 1938

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0722 POLITICIAN

Augustus Peabody Gardner

1865 - 1918

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0738 POLITICIAN

Curtis Guild Jr.

1860 - 1915

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0746 ENTREPRENEUR

Godfrey Lowell Cabot

1861 - 1962

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0757 COLLECTOR

Lillie P. Bliss

1864 - 1931

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0783 SPORT

Sumner Paine

1868 - 1904

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0846 INVENTOR

Arthur Dehon Little

1863 - 1935

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0854 ACTOR

William Morris (actor)

1861 - 1936

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0864 BASEBALL

Tommy McCarthy

1863 - 1922

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0868 COMPOSER

Sidney Homer

1864 - 1953

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0960 METEOROLOGIST

Abbott Lawrence Rotch

1861 - 1912

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1006 PAINTER

Philip Leslie Hale

1865 - 1931

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1014 BIOLOGIST

Marcella Boveri

1863 - 1950

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1023 AUTHOR

John Oliver Hobbes

1867 - 1906

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1041 POLITICIAN

James A. Gallivan

1866 - 1928

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1076 PHOTOGRAPHER

Eugene de Salignac

1861 - 1943

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1103 POET

Gamaliel Bradford (biographer)

1863 - 1932

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1130 POLITICIAN

John Andrew Sullivan

1868 - 1927

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1170 ACTOR

Frank Sheridan

1869 - 1943

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1180 ARCHITECT

Ogden Codman Jr.

1863 - 1951

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1205 EXPLORER

Caspar Whitney

1864 - 1929

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1212 BOXER

Paddy Duffy

1864 - 1890

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1228 COMPOSER

Anne Caldwell

1867 - 1936

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1257 ENGINEER

Charles Gordon Curtis

1860 - 1953

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1375 MUSIC

George Lyman Kittredge

1860 - 1941

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1394 PAINTER

Adelaide Cole Chase

1868 - 1944

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1404 POLITICIAN

John A. Keliher

1866 - 1938

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1426 PHOTOGRAPHER

William Lyman Underwood

1864 - 1929

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1457 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Lida Shaw King

1868 - 1932

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1471 DESIGNER

Albert Angus Turbayne

1866 - 1940

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1479 PAINTER

Marion Boyd Allen

1862 - 1941

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1522 ARCHITECT

Matthew Sullivan

1868 - 1948

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1524 GEOLOGIST

Alfred Church Lane

1863 - 1948

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1543 BUSINESS

George Fabyan

1867 - 1936

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1558 ACTOR

G. P. Huntley

1868 - 1927

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1616 ZOOLOGIST

John Thayer (ornithologist)

1862 - 1949

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1634 POLITICIAN

Frederick Stevens (American politician)

1861 - 1923

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1661 NOVELIST

Emilie Loring

1864 - 1951

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1718 PAINTER

Sears Gallagher

1869 - 1955

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1724 POLITICIAN

Charles J. McCarthy

1861 - 1929

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1752 ACTOR

Joseph Hart (entertainer)

1861 - 1921

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1839 POLITICIAN

Grafton D. Cushing

1864 - 1939

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1846 WRITER

Joseph Lee (recreation advocate)

1862 - 1937

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1868 OPERATOR

Emma Nutt

1860 - 1915

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1874 BANK

James J. Storrow

1864 - 1926

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1891 METEOROLOGIST

Robert DeCourcy Ward

1867 - 1931

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1903 LAWYER

Joseph Henry Beale

1861 - 1943

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1907 FOOTBALL

George C. Adams

1863 - 1900

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1918 LAWYER

Prescott F. Hall

1868 - 1921

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1979 POLITICIAN

Charles Edward Adams (politician)

1867 - 1936

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1988 DIPLOMAT

Ellis Loring Dresel

1865 - 1925

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1990 PRIEST

Joseph Gaudentius Anderson

1865 - 1927

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2146 BASEBALL

Ed Crane (baseball)

1862 - 1896

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2161 POLITICIAN

Edward P. Barry

1864 - 1936

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2176 WRITER

Mary Hazelton Blanchard Wade

1860 - 1945

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2181 BUSINESS

William Henry Baldwin Jr.

1863 - 1905

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2215 CIVIL RIGHTS

Florida Ruffin Ridley

1861 - 1943

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2219 ARCHITECT

Eben Ezra Roberts

1866 - 1943

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2236 CHEMIST

Charles Robert Sanger

1860 - 1912

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2238 PLAYER

Quincy Shaw

1869 - 1960

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2245 DIPLOMAT

John Gardner Coolidge

1863 - 1936

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2252 WRITER

Ella Lyman Cabot

1866 - 1934

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2280 ASTRONOMER

Florence Cushman

1860 - 1940

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2376 PRIEST

Percy Stickney Grant

1860 - 1927

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2457 ACTOR

Virginia Harned

1868 - 1946

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2473 COACH

John Francis Moakley

1863 - 1955

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2567 WRITER

Julia de Wolf Gibbs

1860 - 1952

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2665 PHOTOGRAPHER

Helen Messinger Murdoch

1862 - 1956

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2724 SAILOR

Frank Elmer Smith

1864 - 1943

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2753 BASEBALL

James Donnelly (baseball)

1867 - 1933

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2771 MILITAR

Francis Kelly (Medal of Honor)

1860 - 1938

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2776 POLITICIAN

George A. Hibbard

1864 - 1910

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2777 ORNITHOLOGIST

Herbert K. Job

1864 - 1933

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2801 COMPOSER

Frederick Field Bullard

1864 - 1904

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2802 ACTOR

Wadsworth Harris

1864 - 1942

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2848 CHEMIST

Henry Paul Talbot

1864 - 1927

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2860 BASKET

John Corbett (coach)

1869 - 1947

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2881 BASEBALL

Mike Slattery (baseball)

1866 - 1904

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2931 BASEBALL

Jim Sullivan (1890s pitcher)

1867 - 1901

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2949 BASEBALL

Miah Murray

1865 - 1922

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3029 MILITAR

John James Doran

1864 - 1904

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3080 WRITER

Belle Armstrong Whitney

1861 - 1922

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3102 ARMY

Anthony J. Carson

1869 - 1943

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3107 BASEBALL

Dan Cotter

1867 - 1935

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3120 MUSIC

Alice May Bates Rice

1868 - 1907

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3125 BASEBALL

Jerry Hurley (1890s catcher)

1863 - 1950

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3167 CHEMIST

Arthur Messinger Comey

1861 - 1933

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3190 LAWYER

Bertram Ellis

1860 - 1920

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3199 BASEBALL

Kid Butler (outfielder)

1861 - 1921

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3206 MILITAR

Joseph Francis Scott

1864 - 1941

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3228 POLITICIAN

Charles L. Burrill

1862 - 1931

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3242 BASEBALL

Pat Hartnett (baseball)

1863 - 1935

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3248 POLITICIAN

John E. Beck

Born 1869

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3250 BISHOP

Herman Page (father)

1866 - 1942

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3285 POLITICIAN

Herbert P. Wasgatt

1865 - 1934

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3295 BASEBALL

Nick Wise

1866 - 1923

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3319 POLITICIAN

Alonzo B. Cook

Born 1866

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3322 LAW

Frank Palmer Speare

1869 - 1954

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3335 PUBLISHER

Homer Pierce Clark

1868 - 1970

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3345 BREEDER

Grace Sturtevant

1865 - 1947

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3349 ACTOR

Frank Dayton

1865 - 1924

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3371 SPORT

Joe Vila

1866 - 1934

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3393 LAWYER

Winfield F. Prime

Born 1860

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3448 ENTERTAINER

Amy Height

1866 - 1913

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3455 POLITICIAN

Walter F. Clayton

1865 - 1942

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3507 BASEBALL

Mike Sullivan (pitcher)

1866 - 1906

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3510 POLITICIAN

James E. Hayes

1865 - 1898

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3511 PRIEST

Joseph N. Dinand

1869 - 1943

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3514 DESIGNER

Grace Lincoln Temple

1865 - 1953

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3525 BUSINESS

J. Edwin Ganong

1866 - 1944

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3572 ARCHITECT

George K. Hooper

1868 - 1939

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3598 BASEBALL

Bobby Wheelock

1864 - 1928

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3603 MILITAR

Harry Foote Hodges

1860 - 1929

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3613 BASEBALL

Dan Long (baseball)

1867 - 1929

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3623 BUSINESS

Benjamin Pierce Cheney Jr.

1866 - 1942

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3628 PHYSICIAN

Algernon Coolidge

1860 - 1912

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3653 SINGER

Laura Schirmer Mapleson

1862 - 1894

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