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 124 of 3,663 notable people

0045 FATHER

Rose Kennedy

1890 - 1995

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0070 SINGER

Jack Haley

1898 - 1979

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0091 ECONOMIST

Harry Dexter White

1892 - 1948

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0151 MUSIC

Arthur Fiedler

1894 - 1979

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0183 ACTOR

Ian Keith

1899 - 1960

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0187 PRIEST

Richard Cushing

1895 - 1970

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0198 COMPOSER

Jimmy McHugh

1894 - 1969

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0212 ACTOR

Dorothy Davenport

1895 - 1977

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0222 POET

Harry Crosby

1898 - 1929

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0264 DIPLOMAT

Adolf A. Berle

1895 - 1971

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0276 ACTOR

Kenneth Harlan

1895 - 1967

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0342 POLITICIAN

John W. McCormack

1891 - 1980

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0349 FILM

Alexander Hall

1894 - 1968

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0407 ACADEMIC

Walter Charles Langer

1899 - 1981

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0519 CHEMIST

Henry Gilman

1893 - 1986

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0529 ACTOR

Raymond Griffith

1895 - 1957

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0621 SCREENWRITER

Myles Connolly

1897 - 1964

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0623 GANGSTER

Moe Dalitz

1899 - 1989

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0727 WRITER

Henry Morton Robinson

1898 - 1961

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0778 MUSIC

Leo Reisman

1897 - 1961

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0780 SCREENWRITER

George Marion Jr.

1899 - 1968

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0797 EDITOR

Frederick Lewis Allen

1890 - 1954

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0813 DIPLOMAT

Richard B. Wigglesworth

1891 - 1960

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0828 SCULPTOR

Donald De Lue

1897 - 1988

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0859 COMEDIAN

Benny Rubin

1899 - 1986

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0985 LAWYER

John Patrick Higgins

1893 - 1955

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0986 COMPOSER

Frank Silver

1892 - 1960

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1044 ACTOR

Evelyn Ellis

1894 - 1958

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1083 SONGWRITER

Billy Hill (songwriter)

1899 - 1940

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1113 HOCKEY

Mickey Roach

1895 - 1977

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1123 WRITER

Catherine Filene Shouse

1896 - 1994

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1139 JOURNALIST

Martha Foley

1897 - 1977

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1140 FILM

Hugh Parker Guiler

1898 - 1985

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1145 POLITICIAN

Roger Putnam

1893 - 1972

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1240 LINGUIST

Alexander Haggerty Krappe

1894 - 1947

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1249 PAINTER

Katharine Lane Weems

1899 - 1989

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1273 FOOTBALL

Charles Brickley

1891 - 1949

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1286 MATHEMATICIAN

Rudolf Ernest Langer

1894 - 1968

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1331 LAWYER

Laurence Curtis

1893 - 1989

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1334 ENGINEER

Joseph Slepian

1891 - 1969

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1349 FILM

Lester Dorr

1893 - 1980

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1384 GYMNAST

George Falcke

1891 - 1979

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1385 POLITICIAN

Thomas A. Flaherty

1898 - 1965

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1430 ASTRONOMER

Edwin Francis Carpenter

1898 - 1963

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1481 CARDIOLOGIST

Louis Wolff

1898 - 1972

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1503 ANARCHIST

Philip Grosser

1890 - 1933

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1513 BASEBALL

Al Pierotti

1895 - 1964

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1571 AEROSPACE

Arthur Emmons Raymond

1899 - 1999

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1595 ATHLETIC

James Henigan

1892 - 1950

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1621 ACADEMIC

Edith Philips

1892 - 1983

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1721 PLAYWRIGHT

Marita Bonner

1899 - 1972

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1754 WRITER

Charles R. Codman

1893 - 1956

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1801 FLYING ACE

Jens Fredrick Larson

1891 - 1981

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1820 BISHOP

Eric Francis MacKenzie

1893 - 1969

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1829 PHYSICIAN

Tracy Putnam

1894 - 1975

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1843 FLYING ACE

David Endicott Putnam

1898 - 1918

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1844 COMPOSER

Julius Chaloff

1892 - 1979

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1882 PAINTER

Henry Botkin

1896 - 1983

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1888 POLITICIAN

John Hynes (politician)

1897 - 1970

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2012 OFFICER

William A. Worton

1897 - 1973

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2030 FILM

Louis de Rochemont

1899 - 1978

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2033 WRITER

Richard R. Peabody

1892 - 1936

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2060 CIVIL RIGHTS

Stephen Gill Spottswood

1897 - 1974

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2066 ENTREPRENEUR

Howard Deering Johnson

1897 - 1972

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2140 SPORT

Frederick Bradlee

1892 - 1970

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2222 POLITICIAN

Mason Sears

1899 - 1973

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2344 JOURNALIST

Louis M. Lyons

1897 - 1982

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2355 POET

Phelps Putnam

1894 - 1948

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2358 LAWYER

Jennie Loitman Barron

1891 - 1969

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2381 WORLD WAR

Harold Buckley Willis

1890 - 1962

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2408 PAINTER

Harold Anderson (illustrator)

1894 - 1973

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2412 CONDUCTOR

Ernst Hoffmann (conductor)

1899 - 1956

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2429 AIR FORCE

Albert Francis Hegenberger

1895 - 1983

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2445 PSYCHOLOGIST

Edith Achilles

1892 - 1989

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2474 FOOTBALL

Al Maginnes

1897 - 1966

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2477 FOOTBALL

Burleigh Cruikshank

1890 - 1982

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2533 PAINTER

James Fitzgerald

1899 - 1971

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2536 LAWYER

Thomas Patrick Thornton

1898 - 1985

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2646 LAWYER

Elijah Adlow

1896 - 1982

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2651 FOOTBALL

Frank Morrissey

1899 - 1968

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2656 LYRICIST

Robert Levenson

1897 - 1961

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2697 BASEBALL

Herb Hunter

1895 - 1970

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2708 SPORT

Robert Treat Paine Storer

1893 - 1962

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2736 LAWYER

Edward C. Johnson II

1898 - 1984

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2742 OFFICER

Robert M. Webster

1892 - 1972

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2754 BASEBALL

George Twombly

1892 - 1975

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2769 ZOOLOGIST

Edith Grace White

1890 - 1975

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2770 ACTOR

George Ferguson (actor)

1890 - 1961

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2772 SONGWRITER

Murray Mencher

1898 - 1991

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2786 CHEMIST

Leonora Bilger

1893 - 1975

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2798 PAINTER

Gertrude Nason

1890 - 1969

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2810 FOOTBALL

Dick King (American football)

1895 - 1930

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2827 MILITAR

Michael J. Perkins

1899 - 1918

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2844 PLAYER

Edith Sigourney

1895 - 1982

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2851 BASEBALL

Bill Anderson (1920s pitcher)

1895 - 1983

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2878 ACTOR

Vedah Bertram

1891 - 1912

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2909 ACTOR

Louise Lorimer

1898 - 1995

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2919 ACTOR

Al Lee

Born 1893

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3005 PLAYER

Edward Whitney

Born 1891

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3015 BASEBALL

Claude Davidson

1896 - 1956

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3063 MUSIC

Louis Kelterborn

1891 - 1933

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3071 ATHLETIC

Walter Whalen

1898 - 1966

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3076 PAINTER

Lillian Cotton

1892 - 1962

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3083 COACH

D. Leo Daley

1895 - 1979

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3093 BASEBALL

Marty Shay

1896 - 1951

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3154 MILITAR

Thomas Francis Hickey (general)

1898 - 1983

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3179 POLITICIAN

Joseph A. Langone Jr.

1896 - 1960

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3203 BASEBALL

Henry Bostick

1895 - 1968

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3219 BASEBALL

Tom Connolly (third baseman)

1892 - 1966

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3241 MILITAR

William B. Turner

1892 - 1918

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3269 POLITICIAN

Clementina Poto Langone

1896 - 1964

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3343 FOOTBALL

Tom Woods (American football)

1896 - 1978

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3344 BASEBALL

Tom Sullivan (1920s pitcher)

1895 - 1962

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3355 LAWYER

John Rolly Ross

1899 - 1963

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3395 FENCER

Frederick Cunningham

1898 - 1978

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3430 SWIMMER

Rose Pitonof

1895 - 1984

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3437 FOOTBALL

A. Austin Tate

1894 - 1943

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3468 FOOTBALL

Dennis Gildea

1898 - 1976

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3521 POLITICIAN

Henry Parkman Jr.

1894 - 1958

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3592 ARCHITECT

William B. Colleary

1890 - 1973

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3594 LAWYER

Edward F. Lyons Jr.

1899 - 1990

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3635 SPORT

John A. Shelburne

1894 - 1978

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3642 FOOTBALL

Charlie Wrack

1899 - 1979

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3647 ACTOR

Flora Foster

1898 - 1914

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