34.4348° N, 81.0284° W
CHARLESTON
Most Famous People Born in Charleston, United States
- Notable people
- 749
- Peak decade
- 1940s
- Median birth year
- 1920
- Most distinctive
- Baseball 4.5×
Charleston's profile is frozen in antebellum amber: an outsized Lawyer and Judge class built by the planter bar that dominated South Carolina politics from secession through Reconstruction, with an Officer bench propped up by the Citadel and the Confederate officer corps. The smaller, stranger note is the Novelist thread — Charleston Renaissance writers like DuBose Heyward, whose Porgy became the seed for American opera.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Charleston during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 63 notable births.
What Charleston Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Politician is Charleston's biggest profession — 22% of all notables (166).
Charleston over-indexes on baseball — 4.5× the global rate.
Charleston under-produces writer — only 0.6× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Charleston's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Politics & Law
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Music
- Writing
- Science
- Other
- Field: Baseball Clear ×
Chris Owings
Born 1991
Asher Wojciechowski
Born 1988
John Kruk
Born 1961
Rollie Stiles
1906 - 2007
Gorman Thomas
Born 1950
Matt Whiteside
Born 1967
Chris McGuiness
Born 1988
Jeff Gossett
Born 1957
Tom Martin (baseball)
Born 1970
J. R. House
Born 1979
Jeremy Cummings
Born 1976
Drew Meyer
Born 1981
Jim Lett
Born 1951
John Bass (baseball)
1848 - 1888
Bryce Florie
Born 1970
Marty Pattin
1943 - 2018
Mike Cook (baseball)
Born 1963
Larry Carter
Born 1965
Harry Young (American football)
1893 - 1977
Ernie Nevel
1918 - 1988
Otis Davis (baseball)
1920 - 2007
Bill Cox (baseball)
1913 - 1988
Pat Luby
1869 - 1899
Charlie Whitehouse
1894 - 1960
Eddie Shokes
1920 - 2002
Tom Colcolough
1870 - 1919
Fred Jordan (baseball coach)
Born 1950
Charles William Smith
1937 - 1994
Ken Gerhart
Born 1961
Fritz Von Kolnitz
1893 - 1948
Ed Kenna
1877 - 1912
Bill Harper (baseball)
1889 - 1951
Rosie Rosebraugh
1875 - 1930
Bill Hall (pitcher)
1894 - 1947
Al Jones (baseball)
Born 1959
Larry Lester
Born 1949
Tom Williams (negro leagues)
1896 - 1937
George Fiall
1900 - 1936