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
Lawyer135
Sort By

Showing 135 of 3,663 notable people

0040 LAWYER

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

1841 - 1935

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0078 LAWYER

Charles Francis Adams Sr.

1807 - 1886

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0085 LAWYER

Elliot Richardson

1920 - 1999

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0148 LAWYER

Wendell Phillips

1811 - 1884

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0155 LAWYER

Gardiner Greene Hubbard

1822 - 1897

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0232 LAWYER

Robert Treat Paine

1731 - 1814

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0348 LAWYER

Harold Hongju Koh

Born 1954

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0377 LAWYER

John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst

1772 - 1863

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0438 LAWYER

Charles Devens

1820 - 1891

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0493 LAWYER

Francis Dana

1743 - 1811

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0633 LAWYER

John Quincy Adams II

1833 - 1894

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0674 LAWYER

Josiah Quincy II

1744 - 1775

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0681 LAWYER

John T. Noonan Jr.

1926 - 2017

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0719 LAWYER

Charles Sumner Hamlin

1861 - 1938

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0734 LAWYER

Samuel D. Warren

1852 - 1910

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0772 LAWYER

Horace Gray

1828 - 1902

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0799 LAWYER

Benjamin Thomas (congressman)

1813 - 1878

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0811 LAWYER

George Henry Gordon

1823 - 1886

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0835 LAWYER

Robert H. Rines

1922 - 2009

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0838 LAWYER

John J. Sullivan (diplomat)

Born 1959

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0972 LAWYER

Thomas D. Eliot

1808 - 1870

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0985 LAWYER

John Patrick Higgins

1893 - 1955

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0989 LAWYER

Samuel Sewall (congressman)

1757 - 1814

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1001 LAWYER

Ezekiel Bacon

1776 - 1870

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1003 LAWYER

John A. Rizzo

Born 1948

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1166 LAWYER

Henry James (biographer)

1879 - 1947

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1195 LAWYER

Francis Wayland III

1826 - 1904

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1203 LAWYER

James G. Maguire

1853 - 1920

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1258 LAWYER

Henry Sherman Boutell

1856 - 1926

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1274 LAWYER

Boyce F. Martin Jr.

1935 - 2016

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1305 LAWYER

William Dummer Powell

1755 - 1834

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1331 LAWYER

Laurence Curtis

1893 - 1989

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1358 LAWYER

Earl J. Silbert

Born 1936

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1364 LAWYER

Joseph Walsh (Massachusetts)

1875 - 1946

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1378 LAWYER

Isaac Parker (Massachusetts judge)

1768 - 1830

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1382 LAWYER

Neil Chayet

1939 - 2017

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1403 LAWYER

Robert O. Harris

1854 - 1926

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1405 LAWYER

Marilyn Mosby

Born 1980

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1497 LAWYER

Francis Cabot Lowell (judge)

1855 - 1911

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1499 LAWYER

Joseph F. O'Connell

1872 - 1942

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1569 LAWYER

Robert Grant (novelist)

1852 - 1940

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1583 LAWYER

Walter R. Mansfield

1911 - 1987

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1592 LAWYER

John G. Heyburn II

1948 - 2015

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1601 LAWYER

Patricia J. Williams

Born 1951

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1639 LAWYER

John Lowell (judge, 1865–1884)

1824 - 1897

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1640 LAWYER

Miles Crowley

1859 - 1921

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1657 LAWYER

Gregory G. Katsas

Born 1964

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1714 LAWYER

Richard S. Cohen

1937 - 1998

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1715 LAWYER

Robert M. O'Neil

1934 - 2018

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1727 LAWYER

Lisa Monaco

Born 1968

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1728 LAWYER

Marc Rotenberg

Born 1960

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1787 LAWYER

Mark L. Wolf

Born 1946

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1795 LAWYER

Jonathan Sewall

1729 - 1796

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1806 LAWYER

Peter Rodman

1943 - 2008

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1852 LAWYER

Margaret Stock

Born 1962

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1903 LAWYER

Joseph Henry Beale

1861 - 1943

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1918 LAWYER

Prescott F. Hall

1868 - 1921

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1942 LAWYER

James G. Carr

Born 1940

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1998 LAWYER

David Niles

1888 - 1952

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2005 LAWYER

Ellen Segal Huvelle

Born 1948

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2019 LAWYER

Frederick O. Prince

1818 - 1899

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2044 LAWYER

Ruth Abrams

1930 - 2019

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2104 LAWYER

Christine Griffin

Born 1950

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2120 LAWYER

Neria Douglass

Born 1952

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2137 LAWYER

Bailey Aldrich

1907 - 2002

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2148 LAWYER

James T. Austin

1784 - 1870

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2155 LAWYER

Allison Dale Burroughs

Born 1961

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2173 LAWYER

David E. McGiffert

1926 - 2005

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2185 LAWYER

Charles Edward Wyzanski Jr.

1906 - 1986

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2194 LAWYER

Lelia J. Robinson

1850 - 1891

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2275 LAWYER

Alberto J. Mora

Born 1951

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2278 LAWYER

Catherine C. Blake

Born 1950

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2291 LAWYER

David S. Cohen (attorney)

Born 1963

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2299 LAWYER

Thomas Finneran

Born 1950

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2309 LAWYER

Edward G. Loring

1802 - 1890

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2316 LAWYER

Raymond P. Moore

Born 1953

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2358 LAWYER

Jennie Loitman Barron

1891 - 1969

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2363 LAWYER

Paul Edward Plunkett

1935 - 2018

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2406 LAWYER

Robert A. Sherman

Born 1953

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2426 LAWYER

Patti B. Saris

Born 1951

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2529 LAWYER

Jeremiah Gridley

1702 - 1767

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2532 LAWYER

Dwight Dudley

Born 1954

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2536 LAWYER

Thomas Patrick Thornton

1898 - 1985

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2584 LAWYER

William F. Downes

Born 1946

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2600 LAWYER

David Sutherland Nelson

1933 - 1998

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2638 LAWYER

George T. Conway III

Born 1963

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2644 LAWYER

Thomas P. O'Brien

Born 1960

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2646 LAWYER

Elijah Adlow

1896 - 1982

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2696 LAWYER

Thomas J. Connolly

Born 1958

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2701 LAWYER

Frederick G. Katzmann

1875 - 1953

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2710 LAWYER

Sidney Sugarman

1904 - 1974

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2713 LAWYER

George Fingold

1908 - 1958

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2736 LAWYER

Edward C. Johnson II

1898 - 1984

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2757 LAWYER

George W. Richardson

1808 - 1886

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2762 LAWYER

Joshua Hall Bates

1817 - 1908

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2830 LAWYER

Peter Bynoe

Born 1951

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2834 LAWYER

Harvey Rosenfield

Born 1952

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2839 LAWYER

Herbert Parker (Massachusetts politician)

1856 - 1939

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2840 LAWYER

Tamara W. Ashford

Born 1968

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2862 LAWYER

John Tye (whistleblower)

Born 1976

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2883 LAWYER

Thomas C. Wales

1952 - 2001

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2922 LAWYER

Adolphus W. Green

1844 - 1917

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2946 LAWYER

John R. Murphy

1856 - 1932

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2971 LAWYER

David E. Harrison

Born 1933

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3011 LAWYER

John Durham (lawyer)

Born 1950

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3022 LAWYER

Richard David Emery

Born 1946

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3048 LAWYER

Charles Hiller Innes

1870 - 1939

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3075 LAWYER

Benjamin F. Haines

1876 - 1942

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3097 LAWYER

Champ Lyons

Born 1940

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3158 LAWYER

Andrea Campbell

Born 1982

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3165 LAWYER

Fred I. Parker

1938 - 2003

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3190 LAWYER

Bertram Ellis

1860 - 1920

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3191 LAWYER

Owen A. Galvin

1852 - 1897

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3192 LAWYER

George Eustis Sr.

1796 - 1858

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3208 LAWYER

Francis Ford (judge)

1882 - 1975

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3254 LAWYER

William Thaddeus Coleman III

Born 1947

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3258 LAWYER

Edward J. McCormack Jr.

1923 - 1997

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3274 LAWYER

Frances Jalet-Cruz

1910 - 1994

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3326 LAWYER

Giovanni Prezioso

Born 1957

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3355 LAWYER

John Rolly Ross

1899 - 1963

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3393 LAWYER

Winfield F. Prime

Born 1860

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3400 LAWYER

George A. Scigliano

1874 - 1906

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3408 LAWYER

Robert Hagopian

1911 - 1995

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3443 LAWYER

Charles Stack (lawyer)

Born 1935

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3491 LAWYER

Paul G. Kirk Sr.

1904 - 1981

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3496 LAWYER

A. Arthur Giddon

1909 - 2010

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3498 LAWYER

Michael F. Flaherty Sr.

Born 1936

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3499 LAWYER

James Augustus Fox

1827 - 1901

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3533 LAWYER

Horace H. Coolidge

1832 - 1912

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3548 LAWYER

Emily Gray Rice

Born 1955

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3588 LAWYER

Frank Fuller

1827 - 1915

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3594 LAWYER

Edward F. Lyons Jr.

1899 - 1990

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3596 LAWYER

Joseph Lewis Stackpole

1838 - 1904

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3618 LAWYER

Thomas Edwards (TJAG)

1753 - 1806

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3632 LAWYER

Peter K. Babalas

1922 - 1987

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