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
John Treadwell Nichols
1883 - 1958
Edward Perry Warren
1860 - 1928
Elizabeth S. Anderson
Born 1959
Greg Poehler
Born 1974
Livingston Taylor
Born 1950
Paul A. Dever
1903 - 1958
Phil Napoleon
1901 - 1990
Norm Prescott
1927 - 2005
Richard Gridley
1710 - 1796
Samantha Logan
Born 1996
Joanne Simpson
1923 - 2010
Tom Sullivan (singer)
Born 1947
Peter Plympton Smith
Born 1945
John White Webster
1793 - 1850
Peter Dervan
Born 1945
Henry Gardner
1819 - 1892
Watermelon Slim
Born 1949
Francis Ellingwood Abbot
1836 - 1903
Peter J. Gomes
1942 - 2011
Janet Fish
Born 1938
Myles Connolly
1897 - 1964
Paul Comi
1932 - 2016
Moe Dalitz
1899 - 1989
Joe Gould (bohemian)
1889 - 1957
Nathaniel Davis
1925 - 2011
Henry Alex Rubin
Born 1976
Tony DeMarco
Born 1932
Aidan Mitchell
Born 1993
Archibald Cary Coolidge
1866 - 1928
Ted Donato
Born 1969
F. Van Wyck Mason
1901 - 1978
Allen Danziger
Born 1942
John Quincy Adams II
1833 - 1894
Arthur Zajonc
Born 1949
Paul-Henri Campbell
Born 1982
Peter P. Sorokin
1931 - 2015
George Garzone
Born 1950
William Murphy (Bishop of Rockville Centre)
Born 1940
Jonathan Mason (Massachusetts politician)
1756 - 1831
Joseph Ingraham
1762 - 1800
Susan Howe
Born 1937
Isaac Goldberg
1887 - 1938
Paul Roazen
1936 - 2005
Matt Grzelcyk
Born 1994
Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin
1842 - 1924
Faith Salie
Born 1971
Will Blalock
Born 1983
Francis Boott
1792 - 1863
William Edward Story
1850 - 1930
Harry R. Lewis
Born 1947
George Patton IV
1923 - 2004
Rodman Philbrick
Born 1951
Michael Jenkins Moynihan
Born 1969
Hazel Tucker
Born 1989
Caroline Zhang
Born 1993
William Finn
Born 1952
Michael Eisen
Born 1967
Justin Winsor
1831 - 1897
Robert Kane (philosopher)
Born 1938
Charles Janeway
1943 - 2003
Richard Wernick
Born 1934
Makanda Ken McIntyre
1931 - 2001
Horace Mann Jr.
1844 - 1868
Robert Wahlberg
Born 1967
Andrea Bertozzi
Born 1965
Henry Beston
1888 - 1968
Mashonda
Born 1978
Alexander Gamelin
Born 1993
J. Franklin Jameson
1859 - 1937
Melissa Satta
Born 1986
Rosemary Rodriguez
-
Marc Ferrari
Born 1962
Marianne Leone Cooper
Born 1952
Josiah Quincy II
1744 - 1775
Prince Amukamara
Born 1989
Henry Pickering Bowditch
1840 - 1911
Amor Towles
Born 1964
Ned Rothenberg
Born 1956
Stephen McCauley
Born 1955
Gina McCarthy
Born 1954
John T. Noonan Jr.
1926 - 2017
Jeffrey Lurie
Born 1951
Jerry Gray (arranger)
1915 - 1976
L. Peter Deutsch
Born 1946
Henry Van Brunt
1832 - 1903
Janet Tashjian
Born 1956
Charles Sellon
1870 - 1937
Hiram Sherman
1908 - 1989
James Jackson Putnam
1846 - 1918
David Ochterlony
1758 - 1825
Lee Kinsolving
1938 - 1974
George Mastras
Born 1945
Julia Meade
1925 - 2016
Lydia Millet
Born 1968
Matt Duffy (baseball, born 1989)
Born 1989
Daniel Adams (director)
-
Jennifer Jostyn
Born 1968
Jonathan Roberts (writer)
Born 1956
Ernest Amory Codman
1869 - 1940
Michael Bivins
Born 1968
Jerry Bergonzi
Born 1947
Benn Ferriero
Born 1987
Alexander Hill Everett
1792 - 1847
Mather Brown
1761 - 1831
Nathaniel Carl Goodwin
1857 - 1919
Phoebe Atwood Taylor
1909 - 1976
Ed Rollins
Born 1943
Jared Goldberg
Born 1991
Alexandra Lydon
Born 1979
Thomas Gold Appleton
1812 - 1884
Brian Strait
Born 1988
E. J. Dionne
Born 1952
George David Woods
1901 - 1982
Arthur Asa Berger
Born 1933
Courtney Sims
Born 1983
Clifton R. Wharton Jr.
Born 1926
Hamilton MacFadden
1901 - 1977
William H. Mumler
1832 - 1884
Charles Sumner Hamlin
1861 - 1938
Sheanon Williams
Born 1990
Torin Francis
Born 1983
Augustus Peabody Gardner
1865 - 1918
John Moors Cabot
1901 - 1981
Robert F. Bradford
1902 - 1983
Ron Lee
Born 1952
Noah Feldman
Born 1970
Henry Morton Robinson
1898 - 1961
Isabel Atkin
Born 1998
Mahlon Hoagland
1921 - 2009
Henry Marsh (athlete)
Born 1954
Thomas Smith Webb
1771 - 1819
Anne Nagel
1915 - 1966
Richard B. Spencer
Born 1978
Samuel D. Warren
1852 - 1910
Zack Norman
Born 1940
Richard Murphy (screenwriter)
1912 - 1993
Tom Werman
Born 1945
Curtis Guild Jr.
1860 - 1915
Dick Wesson (actor)
1922 - 1996
Derek B. Miller
Born 1970
Billy Tibbetts
Born 1974
Jeffrey Davidow
Born 1944
Peter Carruthers (figure skater)
Born 1959
Roger Wolcott (Massachusetts)
1847 - 1900
Alfred Clifton Hughes
Born 1932
Godfrey Lowell Cabot
1861 - 1962
Lisbeth Scott
Born 1968
Charles B. Atwood
1849 - 1895
Charles Henry Davis
1807 - 1877
Fran Sheehan
Born 1949
Lawrence Hogan
1928 - 2017
James Lovell (Continental Congress)
1737 - 1814
William Cooper Nell
1816 - 1874
Arthur Blake (distance runner)
1872 - 1944
Lauren Koslow
Born 1953
Glasser (musician)
Born 1983
Lillie P. Bliss
1864 - 1931
Josiah Parsons Cooke
1827 - 1894
Joe Moakley
1927 - 2001
William Henry Leonard Poe
1807 - 1831
Dwight York
Born 1935
Barbara Simons
Born 1941
William Landay
Born 1963
William Stowell
1885 - 1919
Roland Anderson
1903 - 1989
Blanche Ring
1871 - 1961
Henry Bryant Bigelow
1879 - 1967
James Wells Champney
1843 - 1903
Johnny Ryan
Born 1970
Ted Drury
Born 1971
Thomas Hubbard Sumner
1807 - 1876
Horace Gray
1828 - 1902
John Greenwood (artist)
1727 - 1792
Griffith C. Evans
1887 - 1973
Abigail Johnson
Born 1961
John Charles Phillips
1876 - 1936
Charles Theodore Dotter
1920 - 1985
Leo Reisman
1897 - 1961
Gerald M. Rubin
Born 1950
George Marion Jr.
1899 - 1968
Arvin Chen
Born 1978
Ward Costello
1919 - 2009
Sumner Paine
1868 - 1904
Annie Adams Fields
1834 - 1915
Robert Beaser
Born 1954
Ezra Edelman
Born 1974
Joe Gordon (musician)
1928 - 1963
Ronald Ludington
1934 - 2020
Peter Haskell
1934 - 2010
Ty Burr
Born 1957
John McCarthy (ice hockey)
Born 1986
Samuel Whittemore
1696 - 1793
Edward Lewis Sturtevant
1842 - 1898
Howard Phillips (politician)
1941 - 2013
Marron Curtis Fort
1938 - 2019
Brian Fair
Born 1975
Frederick Lewis Allen
1890 - 1954
Barbara Epstein
1928 - 2006
Benjamin Thomas (congressman)
1813 - 1878
Barry Goudreau
Born 1951
Francesca Alexander
1837 - 1917
Josiah Snelling
1782 - 1828
Juliana Cannarozzo
Born 1989
Charles Brenner (psychiatrist)
1913 - 2008
Danzy Senna
Born 1970
Rufus Gifford
Born 1974
Caroline Healey Dall
1822 - 1912
George Frederick Barker
1835 - 1910
Jeff Martin (writer)
-
Robert Kelly (comedian)
Born 1970
George Henry Gordon
1823 - 1886
Steven Kleiman
Born 1942
Richard B. Wigglesworth
1891 - 1960
John G. Palfrey
1796 - 1881
Paul Caponigro
Born 1932
David Park (painter)
1911 - 1960
George Bonhag
1882 - 1960
Daniel Frank (athlete)
1882 - 1965
Guinevere Van Seenus
Born 1977
Barbara Johnson
1947 - 2009
Robert Coles (psychiatrist)
Born 1929
Jewelle Gomez
Born 1948
Walter Powers (musician)
Born 1946
David Gilbarg
1918 - 2001
Samuel Wardwell
1643 - 1692
Claire M. Fraser
Born 1955
Stuart Milligan
Born 1953
Donald De Lue
1897 - 1988
Paul Zoll
1911 - 1999
Jonathan Williams (engineer)
1751 - 1815
Suki Schorer
Born 1939
Joseph Abboud
Born 1950
Brian Goodman
Born 1963
Hillary B. Smith
Born 1957
Robert H. Rines
1922 - 2009
Ralph Wormeley Curtis
1854 - 1922
Charles Stuart (murderer)
1959 - 1990
John J. Sullivan (diplomat)
Born 1959
John Paine (sport shooter)
1870 - 1951
Nate Dushku
Born 1977
Wanda D'Isidoro
Born 1977
James Cutler Dunn Parker
1828 - 1916
Isadore Twersky
1930 - 1997
Julian Sturgis
1848 - 1904
Bill Curley
Born 1972
Arthur Dehon Little
1863 - 1935
Jude (singer)
Born 1970
Thomas Mayo Brewer
1814 - 1880
Elizabeth Boott
1846 - 1888
Alex Grasshoff
1928 - 2008
Joseph T. O'Callahan
1905 - 1964
Samuel Stillman Osgood
1808 - 1885
George Goldthwaite
1809 - 1879
William Morris (actor)
1861 - 1936
Ted Dewan
Born 1961
Erica Lindbeck
Born 1992
William Francis Channing
1820 - 1901
Jane C. Goodale
1926 - 2008
Benny Rubin
1899 - 1986
Sydney Joseph Freedberg
1914 - 1997
Christopher G. Kennedy
Born 1963
Martha Coffin Wright
1806 - 1875
Peter Mackenzie
Born 1961
Tommy McCarthy
1863 - 1922
George Clapp Vaillant
1901 - 1945
Monica Gill
Born 1990
Charles A. Dinarello
Born 1943
Sidney Homer
1864 - 1953
Linda Laubenstein
1947 - 1992
Robert Rosenberg
1951 - 2006
Otto Friedrich
1929 - 1995
Amy Vincent
Born 1959
Darren Turcotte
Born 1968
John Little (academic)
Born 1928
Richard France (writer)
Born 1938
Charles Francis Adams IV
1910 - 1999
James Matisoff
Born 1937
Maribel Owen
1940 - 1961
Andrew Oliver
1706 - 1774
Samuel Atkins Eliot (politician)
1798 - 1862
Roger Hale Sheaffe
1763 - 1851
Bob Bigelow
1953 - 2020
Jorge Alves (ice hockey)
Born 1979
Susan Hale
1833 - 1910
Thomas W. Thompson
1766 - 1821
Lois Ayres
Born 1963
Wesley Coe
1879 - 1926
Michael Thomas (author)
Born 1967
John Phillips (mayor)
1770 - 1823
Benjamin Hallowell Carew
1761 - 1834
Stanley Elkins
1925 - 2013
Francis Woodman Cleaves
1911 - 1995
Matilda White Riley
1911 - 2004
Roland Alexander
1935 - 2006
Jack Germond
1928 - 2013
Harold J. Greene
1959 - 2014
William B. Calhoun
1796 - 1865
Charles Callahan Perkins
1823 - 1886
John Brebbia
Born 1990
Ruth Sawyer
1880 - 1970