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.
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 novelist — 3.5× the global rate.
Boston under-produces football — only 0.2× the global rate.
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.
- Politics & Law
- Sports
- Writing
- Film & TV
- Science
- Music
- Other
Sandra Faber
Born 1944
Jerry Maren
1920 - 2018
Robin Hartshorne
Born 1938
Reed Hastings
Born 1960
George Peter Alexander Healy
1813 - 1894
Thurston Hall
1882 - 1958
Leslie H. Martinson
1915 - 2016
Mark Frechette
1947 - 1975
Charles Sprague Sargent
1841 - 1927
Benzino
Born 1965
Nick Sagan
Born 1970
Jack DeSena
Born 1987
Francis Amasa Walker
1840 - 1897
David Rieff
Born 1952
Albert K. Cohen
1918 - 2014
Albert Lord
1912 - 1991
Dorothy West
1907 - 1998
Serge Chaloff
1923 - 1957
Conrad Marca-Relli
1913 - 2000
Dorothy Loudon
1925 - 2003
Annie Baker
Born 1981
Sarah Sze
Born 1969
Jeanie MacPherson
1887 - 1946
Ralph Ince
1887 - 1937
Jon Kleinberg
Born 1971
James Crafts
1839 - 1917
Jonathan Borofsky
Born 1942
William Hale Thompson
1869 - 1944
Robert Drinan
1920 - 2007
Bruce Sinofsky
1956 - 2015
Joel Cohen (writer)
Born 1963
Bob Taft
Born 1942
A. Bartlett Giamatti
1938 - 1989
Theodore Lyman
1874 - 1954
A. Lawrence Lowell
1856 - 1943
Charles-Edward Amory Winslow
1877 - 1957
Antoine Bello
Born 1970
Peter Abrahams (American author)
Born 1947
George Nolfi
Born 1960
Nathaniel Gorham
1738 - 1796
Ottessa Moshfegh
Born 1981
John W. McCormack
1891 - 1980
Korczak Ziolkowski
1908 - 1982
Robin Moore
1925 - 2008
Julian Hawthorne
1846 - 1934
William Bratton
Born 1947
Michael Land
Born 1961
Harold Hongju Koh
Born 1954
Alexander Hall
1894 - 1968
Frank Craven
1881 - 1945
Patrick Ewing Jr.
Born 1984
Harry Kemelman
1908 - 1996
Eddie Edwards (wrestler)
Born 1983
Angelina Weld Grimké
1880 - 1958
John Collins Warren
1778 - 1856
Eliot A. Cohen
Born 1956
Susan Athey
Born 1970
Peter Guralnick
Born 1943
Eli "Paperboy" Reed
Born 1983
John Enos III
Born 1962
David M. Raup
1933 - 2015
Slaine (rapper)
Born 1977
Francisco Goldman
Born 1954
Nancy Benoit
1964 - 2007
Christopher Gore
1758 - 1827
Cynthia Voigt
Born 1942
Paul D. Harkins
1904 - 1984
Allen Hoskins
1920 - 1980
John Thomas (athlete)
1941 - 2013
David Blatt
Born 1959
Babe Paley
1915 - 1978
George Ticknor
1791 - 1871
Thomas Burke (athlete)
1875 - 1929
Seth Carlo Chandler
1846 - 1913
Joseph E. Levine
1905 - 1987
Carl Mydans
1907 - 2004
John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst
1772 - 1863
Maria Cole
1922 - 2012
George Mostow
1923 - 2017
Robert Lanza
Born 1956
Frank Robbins
1917 - 1994
Fannie Farmer
1857 - 1915
Allan H. Meltzer
1928 - 2017
Caleb Blood Smith
1808 - 1864
Christopher Wool
Born 1955
John Jeffries
1744 - 1819
Mr. Lif
Born 1977
Alvan T. Fuller
1878 - 1958
Richard Sears (tennis)
1861 - 1943
Harrison Gray Otis (politician)
1765 - 1848
Cid Corman
1924 - 2004
Helen Vendler
Born 1933
Warren Rudman
1930 - 2012
Brian Duffy (astronaut)
Born 1953
Dorothy Iannone
Born 1933
Eric Griffin
Born 1976
Charles Sprague Pearce
1851 - 1914
George Francis Train
1829 - 1904
Stephen Ross (economist)
1944 - 2017
Franklyn Farnum
1878 - 1961
William Bundy
1917 - 2000
Samuel Wendell Williston
1851 - 1918
Alexander Perls
Born 1976
Andrea Barrett
Born 1954
Chuck Pfarrer
Born 1957
Michelle Phan
Born 1987
Walter Charles Langer
1899 - 1981
Fred F. Sears
1913 - 1957
Josiah Quincy III
1772 - 1864
Sarah Kemble Knight
1666 - 1727
Joy Giovanni
Born 1978
Chris Bourque
Born 1986
Thomas Ball (artist)
1819 - 1911
Demetris Nichols
Born 1984
Ryan Sypek
Born 1982
Andrew Bujalski
Born 1977
William Fogg Osgood
1864 - 1943
Deborah Turbeville
1932 - 2013
Daniel Gorenstein
1923 - 1992
Eugene Roche
1928 - 2004
Mary Livermore
1820 - 1905
Alex Cobb
Born 1987
Tasha Tudor
1915 - 2008
Franklin Stahl
Born 1929
Bob Elliott (comedian)
1923 - 2016
John Wright (cardinal)
1909 - 1979
Aaron Goldberg
Born 1974
John Brockman (literary agent)
Born 1941
Jane Toppan
1854 - 1938
Karl Deisseroth
Born 1971
Natalie Trundy
1940 - 2019
Maxime Bôcher
1867 - 1918
Ruby Braff
1927 - 2003
Touré (journalist)
Born 1971
Jeff Burton
Born 1967
Elizabeth Cabot Agassiz
1822 - 1907
Richard N. Goodwin
1931 - 2018
Charles Devens
1820 - 1891
Rich Hill (pitcher)
Born 1980
Henry N. Cobb
1926 - 2020
Jennifer Dundas
Born 1971
Mark O'Brien (poet)
1949 - 1999
George von Lengerke Meyer
1858 - 1918
Chris Garneau
Born 1982
John F. Kelly
Born 1950
Alan Douglas (record producer)
1931 - 2014
Arthur Caplan
Born 1950
Royall Tyler
1757 - 1826
Anne Twomey
Born 1951
Jane Cowl
1883 - 1950
Richard McGonagle
Born 1946
Max Blumenthal
Born 1977
Jesse Heiman
Born 1978
Kane Roberts
Born 1962
Liam Waite
Born 1971
Charles B. Cory
1857 - 1921
Marian Hooper Adams
1843 - 1885
Neil Asher Silberman
Born 1950
William Dawes
1745 - 1799
Beals Wright
1879 - 1961
Brian O'Leary
1940 - 2011
Bill Keith (musician)
1939 - 2015
Barbara Delinsky
Born 1945
Paul Mitchell (politician)
Born 1956
Irving Fine
1914 - 1962
Joseph Dunford
Born 1955
Walter Gay
1856 - 1937
Jimmy Vesey
Born 1993
Samuel Hubbard Scudder
1837 - 1911
Norman Abramson
1932 - 2020
David Meerman Scott
Born 1961
Tommaso Ciampa
Born 1985
Dan Kiley
1912 - 2004
Neal Dunn
Born 1953
John Winthrop (educator)
1714 - 1779
Janet Morris
Born 1946
Max Tishler
1906 - 1989
Martin Olson
-
Frederic Tudor
1783 - 1864
Katya Zamolodchikova
Born 1982
Susan Minot
Born 1956
Harriet Boyd Hawes
1871 - 1945
Neil Cicierega
Born 1986
Aviva Chomsky
Born 1957
James Steinberg
Born 1953
Noah Hanifin
Born 1997
Julia Glass
Born 1956
Mike Milbury
Born 1952
Keith Yandle
Born 1986
Victor Guillemin
Born 1937
Charles Palliser
Born 1947
Frank Ross (producer)
1904 - 1990
Francis Dana
1743 - 1811
Gordon R. Sullivan
Born 1937
Jonathan Kozol
Born 1936
Peter Galbraith
Born 1950
Wilhelm Berger
1861 - 1911
Thomas W. Lawson (businessman)
1857 - 1925
David Sheff
Born 1955
Tyler Faith
Born 1975
Kenny Delmar
1910 - 1984
Henry Jacob Bigelow
1818 - 1890
William Gilson Farlow
1844 - 1919
Jack Burns
1933 - 2020
John Tortorella
Born 1958
Morton Prince
1854 - 1929
Ricky Ford
Born 1954
Edward Tuckerman
1817 - 1886
Sammy Adams
Born 1987
Thomas Church (landscape architect)
1902 - 1978
Jimmy Hayes (ice hockey)
Born 1989
Patrick Renna
Born 1979
Kevin Hayes (ice hockey)
Born 1992
Amie Wilkinson
Born 1968
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward
1844 - 1911
T. A. Barron
Born 1952
Eliot Noyes
1910 - 1977
William Hill Brown
1765 - 1793
Henry Gilman
1893 - 1986
Dave Lambert (American jazz vocalist)
1917 - 1966
James L. Peters
1889 - 1952
Lexi Love
Born 1980
Charles Warren (U.S. author)
1868 - 1954
Albert Augustus Pope
1843 - 1909
Manny Delcarmen
Born 1982
Oney Lorcan
Born 1985
Chris Nilan
Born 1958
William Stimpson
1832 - 1872
Raymond Griffith
1895 - 1957
Kik Pierie
Born 2000
Dana Barros
Born 1967
John Sullivan Dwight
1813 - 1893
Regina Carrol
1943 - 1992
Damon Santostefano
-
Mary Halvorson
Born 1980
Lloyd N. Trefethen
Born 1955
Moses Gill
1734 - 1800
Hartry Field
Born 1946
George Henry Hall (artist)
1825 - 1913
Tony Gaffney
Born 1984
Oscar Brodney
1907 - 2008
Alexander Vershbow
Born 1952
Herbert P. Bix
Born 1938
Aaron Ryder
-
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese
1941 - 2007
Deborah Lurie
Born 1974
William Mason (composer)
1829 - 1908
Larry Goldings
Born 1968
Ray Nazarro
1902 - 1986
Mark Andrew Green
Born 1960
Walter A. Brown
1905 - 1964
Martha Hackett
Born 1961
Jesse Pomeroy
1859 - 1932
J. Courtney Sullivan
Born 1981
Jan Miner
1917 - 2004
Charles Bass
Born 1952
Edith Fellows
1923 - 2011
Seno Gumira Ajidarma
Born 1958
Laura E. Richards
1850 - 1943
Jane Ira Bloom
Born 1955
Richard Rust
1938 - 1994
Saul Rosenzweig
1907 - 2004
Edward Dahlberg
1900 - 1977
Henry-Russell Hitchcock
1903 - 1987
Gelett Burgess
1866 - 1951
Ed Herlihy
1909 - 1999
Hettienne Park
Born 1983
Sid Ramin
1919 - 2019
Jeremy Belknap
1744 - 1798
Harriet Hanson Robinson
1825 - 1911
Sandy Saddler
1926 - 2001
Jack O'Callahan
Born 1957
Paul X. Kelley
1928 - 2019
Clifford Jarvis
1941 - 1999
Lauren Greenfield
Born 1966
James Barnes (general)
1801 - 1869
Bjorn Poonen
Born 1968
Solomon Stoddard
1643 - 1729
Dick Elliott
1886 - 1961
Iyeoka Okoawo
Born 1975
Sargent Claude Johnson
1888 - 1967
Eleonora Sears
1881 - 1968
Charles Gross
Born 1934
George Weller
1907 - 2002
Nicole Raczynski
Born 1979
William Ellery Channing (poet)
1818 - 1901
Roland Winters
1904 - 1989
Sib Hashian
1949 - 2017
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas
Born 1931
Margaret Ruthven Lang
1867 - 1972
Henry Theodore Tuckerman
1813 - 1871
Pat Badger
Born 1967
Peter Rowan
Born 1942
Alison Folland
Born 1978
Tom Long (actor)
1968 - 2020
Vincent Connare
Born 1960
Kitty Carruthers
Born 1961
Robin Shōko Okada
Born 1993
Paul Mockapetris
Born 1948
Barbara Mullen
1914 - 1979