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

3,663 notable people

3601 DRUMMER

Steve Johns (drummer)

Born 1960

Preview
3602 BASEBALL

Dan Barry (umpire)

1886 - 1947

Preview
3603 MILITAR

Harry Foote Hodges

1860 - 1929

Preview
3604 SPORT

Louis Mettling

1884 - 1907

Preview
3605 GALLANTRY

William S. Bond (Medal of Honor)

1839 - 1892

Preview
3606 POLITICIAN

Eugene Hultman

1875 - 1945

Preview
3607 WRITER

Dan Blum

Born 1958

Preview
3608 ARCHITECT

George F. Loring

Died 1918

Preview
3609 GEOLOGIST

R. Lawrence Edwards

Born 1953

Preview
3610 SHERIFF

Thomas S. Eisenstadt

Born 1936

Preview
3611 HISTORIAN

Frank Leith Jones

-

Preview
3612 BASKET

Christopher Rojik

Born 1974

Preview
3613 BASEBALL

Dan Long (baseball)

1867 - 1929

Preview
3614 CAMPAIGN

William P. Winchester

1801 - 1850

Preview
3615 SUFFRAGETTE

Adelaide Avery Claflin

1846 - 1931

Preview
3616 ORTHODONTIST

Anthony Gianelly

1876 - 2009

Preview
3617 EXECUTIVE

John F. O'Halloran

1914 - 1968

Preview
3618 LAWYER

Thomas Edwards (TJAG)

1753 - 1806

Preview
3619 POLITICIAN

Richard Caples

1921 - 2002

Preview
3620 PHYSICIST

Alfred G. Redfield

1929 - 2019

Preview
3621 PHILOSOPHER

Ida M. Eliot

1836 - 1923

Preview
3622 JUDGE

Bethany Alvord

Born 1957

Preview
3623 BUSINESS

Benjamin Pierce Cheney Jr.

1866 - 1942

Preview
3624 ASTRONOMER

Phillip Sidney Coolidge

1830 - 1863

Preview
3625 POLITICIAN

George Sanderson (politician)

-

Preview
3626 PLAYER

S. Howard Voshell

1888 - 1937

Preview
3627 POLITICIAN

David B. Williams (politician)

1919 - 1994

Preview
3628 PHYSICIAN

Algernon Coolidge

1860 - 1912

Preview
3629 CHEMIST

Diethard Böhme

Born 1941

Preview
3630 PERCUSSIONIST

Salvatore Rabbio

Born 1934

Preview
3631 POLITICIAN

Elisha Cutler Jr.

1816 - 1849

Preview
3632 LAWYER

Peter K. Babalas

1922 - 1987

Preview
3633 MILITAR

Arthur S. Collins Jr.

1915 - 1984

Preview
3634 GUERRILLA

Lewis J. Ingalls

1857 - 1913

Preview
3635 SPORT

John A. Shelburne

1894 - 1978

Preview
3636 ACADEMIC

Edward Hyde Rice

1847 - 1895

Preview
3637 PAINTER

Sarah Gooll Putnam

1851 - 1912

Preview
3638 MILITAR

John Smith (Medal of Honor, born 1831)

Born 1831

Preview
3639 BASEBALL

Sy Rosenthal

1903 - 1969

Preview
3640 MUSIC

Howard Johnson (Altsaxophonist)

1905 - 1991

Preview
3641 PUBLISHER

Joshua Macht

-

Preview
3642 FOOTBALL

Charlie Wrack

1899 - 1979

Preview
3643 PHYSICIAN

Thomas Welsh (Mediziner)

1752 - 1831

Preview
3644 BASEBALL

James Sumner (baseball)

1851 - 1881

Preview
3645 LIEUTENANT

Elwood G. Babbit

Born 1871

Preview
3646 SCIENTIST

William H. Angoff

1920 - 1993

Preview
3647 ACTOR

Flora Foster

1898 - 1914

Preview
3648 POLITICIAN

Michael LoPresti Jr.

1947 - 2004

Preview
3649 COMPOSER

Nat Johnson

1883 - 1921

Preview
3650 PAINTER

Susan Hinckley Bradley

1851 - 1929

Preview
3651 PAINTER

Nathaniel Smibert

1734 - 1756

Preview
3652 ATHLETIC

Alfred John Lill Jr.

1880 - 1956

Preview
3653 SINGER

Laura Schirmer Mapleson

1862 - 1894

Preview
3654 WRITER

Robert Means Lawrence

1847 - 1935

Preview
3655 SUFFRAGIST

Abbie Howard Hunt Stuart

1840 - 1902

Preview
3656 ACADEMIC

William Chauncey Rice

1878 - 1941

Preview
3657 CHEMIST

Charles Hallett Wing

1836 - 1915

Preview
3658 BADMINTON

Mary Whittemore

Born 1913

Preview
3659 PRESERVATIONIST

Walter F. Morris Jr.

-

Preview
3660 SURGEON

Philip D. Wilson Jr.

1920 - 2016

Preview
3661 POET

Emily Gillmore Alden

Born 1834

Preview
3662 POLITICIAN

Sumner Z. Kaplan

1920 - 2011

Preview
3663 SCIENTIST

John Kolsti

Born 1935

Preview