50.9422° N, 6.9578° E
COLOGNE
Most Famous People Born in Cologne, Germany
- Notable people
- 3,487
- Peak decade
- 1960s
- Median birth year
- 1934
- Most distinctive
- Art Historian 6.5×
A Rhenish capital whose roots go back to Agrippina's Roman colony in 15 AD. Cologne's distinctive professions are art historians and authors at the top — the legacy of one of Europe's oldest cathedral chapters and the Wallraf-Richartz museum — alongside architects, sculptors, and the actors of a postwar German television capital. Adenauer was born here, Offenbach composed here, and Heinrich Böll anchored the postwar literary bench; the city also has one of the deepest pre-1500 tails of any in Germany.
One face per century — the most globally famous figure born in Cologne during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 452 notable births.
What Cologne Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Actor is Cologne's biggest profession — 10% of all notables (346).
Cologne over-indexes on art historian — 6.5× the global rate.
Cologne under-produces football — only 0.5× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Cologne's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Writing
- Film & TV
- Art & Design
- Sports
- Science
- Politics & Law
- Other
- Field: Painter Clear ×
Hans von Aachen
1552 - 1615
Wilhelm Leibl
1844 - 1900
Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury
1797 - 1890
Anton Räderscheidt
1892 - 1970
Jimmy Ernst
1920 - 1984
Jacob Binck
1495 - 1569
Heinrich Hoerle
1895 - 1936
Franz Wilhelm Seiwert
1894 - 1933
Master of Saint Veronica
1380 - 1420
Master of the Aachen Altar
-
Joseph Fassbender
1903 - 1974
Albert Flamm
1823 - 1906
Erich Correns
1821 - 1877
Joseph Fay
1813 - 1875
Herb Aach
1923 - 1985
Jean Augustin Daiwaille
1786 - 1850
Barthel Bruyn the Younger
1530 - 1607
Consuelo Fould
1862 - 1927
Peter Binoit
1590 - 1632
Margarete Heymann
1899 - 1990
Astrid Klein
Born 1951
Erwin Bechtold
Born 1925
Angelika Hoerle
1899 - 1923
Franz M. Jansen
1885 - 1958
Johann Anton de Peters
1725 - 1795
Goffredo Wals
1595 - 1638
August Deusser
1870 - 1942
Heribert C. Ottersbach
Born 1960
Otto Mengelberg
1817 - 1890
Augusta Preitinger
1878 - 1946
Jean Bungartz
1854 - 1934
Franz Brantzky
1871 - 1945
Bernhard Wiegandt
1851 - 1918
Gisbert Flüggen
1811 - 1859
Egidius Mengelberg
1770 - 1849
Olga Oppenheimer
1886 - 1941
George Geldorp
1595 - 1665
August Neven du Mont
1866 - 1909
Johann Franz Ermels
1641 - 1693
Fritz Kronenberg
1901 - 1960
Fifi Kreutzer
1891 - 1977
Marta Worringer
1881 - 1965
Felix Bürgers
1870 - 1934
Adolf Schmitz
1825 - 1894
Matteo Loves
Born 1600
David Ostrowski
Born 1981
René Böll
Born 1948
Monika von Starck
Born 1939
Friedrich Wilhelm Schreiner
1836 - 1922
Ricardo do Pilar
1635 - 1700
Gottfried Brockmann
1903 - 1983
Marianne Kühn
1914 - 2005
Clemens Hillebrand
Born 1955
C.O. Paeffgen
1933 - 2019
Franz Joseph Esser
1891 - 1964
Haydé Ardalan
Born 1956
Karl Marx (Maler)
1929 - 2008
Peter Herkenrath
1900 - 1992
Marie Gey-Heinze
1881 - 1908
Florian Abel
Died 1565
Elisabeth Vary
Born 1940
Joseph Kölschbach
1882 - 1947
Rudolf Alfons Scholl
1931 - 2018
Friedel Jenny Konitzer
1915 - 2013
Heinrich Windelschmidt
1884 - 1963
Abraham Hogenberg
1578 - 1653
Franz Monjau
1903 - 1945
Barbara Erdmann
1929 - 2019
Guilliam du Gardijn
1595 - 1657
Wilhelm Kleinenbroich
1812 - 1895
Cosy Pièro
Born 1937
Ulrich Moskopp
Born 1961
Jupp Lückeroth
1919 - 1993
Fritz H. Lauten
1935 - 1989
Ernst Moritz Roth
1902 - 1945
Roland Schappert
Born 1965
Anneliese Planken
1912 - 1994
Heino Naujoks
Born 1937
Johannes Wohnseifer
Born 1967
Johannes Niessen
1821 - 1910
Matthias May
1884 - 1923
Uli Schoop
1903 - 1990
Donatello Losito
1940 - 2008
Michael Welter
1808 - 1892
Fritz Westendorp
1867 - 1926
Alfred Dupré
1904 - 1956
Walter Corde
1876 - 1944
Simon Hemmer
Born 1978
Gerd Mosbach
Born 1963
Edda Grossman
Born 1958
Christian Heyden (Maler)
1854 - 1933
Charly Pirot
1939 - 2015
Toni May
1914 - 2004
Paul Joseph Kiederich
1809 - 1850
Birgit Antoni (Malerin)
Born 1956
Arthur Erdle
1889 - 1961
Franz Heinrich Commans
1837 - 1919
Carl Seibels
1844 - 1877
Anton Greven (Maler)
1810 - 1838
Heinz Zolper
Born 1949
Franz Everhard Bourel
1803 - 1871
Ilse Hangert
1925 - 2015
Djawid C. Borower
Born 1958
Franz Paul Massau
1818 - 1900
Heinz Lanser
Born 1937
Rosa Friess
1916 - 2007
Franz Guillery
1862 - 1933
Karl Heyden (Maler)
1845 - 1933
Josef Schröder-Schoenenberg
1896 - 1948
Peter Möbus
Born 1954
Irena Rüther-Rabinowicz
1900 - 1979
Johann Wilhelm Pottgießer
1637 - 1690
Sylvia Goebel
Born 1952
Stephan Boeder
1937 - 2018
Alice Koch-Gierlichs
1914 - 2009
Hans Rolf Maria Koller
1932 - 2015
Gisela Krohn
Born 1966
Reiner Dahlen
1837 - 1874
Eilbertus von Köln
-
Franzjosef Klemm
1883 - 1959
Hans Vincenz
1900 - 1976
Roland Risse (Maler)
1835 - 1887
Alexius Kleinertz
1831 - 1903
Gottfried Wedig
1583 - 1641
Sabine Odensaß
Born 1958
Karl-Heinz Lingner
1925 - 1998
Anton Hansmann
1821 - 1870
Franziskus Dellgruen
1901 - 1984
Hermann Friling
1867 - 1940
Heinrich Mosler-Pallenberg
1863 - 1893
Josta Stapper
Born 1941
Carl Thiel (Maler)
1835 - 1900
Käthe Ricken
1917 - 2005
Friedrich Rantz
1811 - 1847
Adolf Schleicher
1887 - 1982
Gottfried Saurbier
1904 - 1971
HOBI
1939 - 1998
Johann Jakob Schmitz
1724 - 1810
Fritz Koenen
1895 - 1978
Henrique Fleiuss
1824 - 1882
Ruth Underberg
1924 - 2002
Margarete Hoenerbach
1848 - 1924
Franz Wilhelm Schön
1784 - 1871
Bernd Schulte (Maler)
1908 - 1972
Heinz Müller-Pilgram
1913 - 1984
Wilhelm Pütz (Künstler)
1875 - 1957
Heinrich Pilger
1899 - 1993
Lothar Brandes
1926 - 2011
Arnt Bruyn
1500 - 1577
Rudolf Zieseniss
1883 - 1959
Theo Bleser
1918 - 1974
Manfred Karsubke
1929 - 2011
Bartholomäus Bruyn III.
1550 - 1603
Jakob Acht
1822 - 1887
Heinrich Wägenbaur
1897 - 1976
Engelbert Willmes
1786 - 1866
Fritz Laubenthal
1901 - 1944