33.5131° N, 36.2920° E
DAMASCUS
Most Famous People Born in Damascus, Syria
- Notable people
- 464
- Peak decade
- 1970s
- Median birth year
- 1943
- Most distinctive
- Archbishop 31.4×
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Damascus during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1970s with 48 notable births.
What Damascus Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Politician is Damascus's biggest profession — 15% of all notables (68).
Damascus over-indexes on archbishop — 31.4× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Damascus's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Politics & Law
- Writing
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Religion
- Science
- Other
Bashar al-Assad
Born 1965
John of Damascus
676 - 749
Abd al-Rahman I
731 - 788
Michel Aflaq
1912 - 1989
Apollodorus of Damascus
50 - 130
Nizar Qabbani
1923 - 1998
Ibn al-Nafis
1210 - 1289
Rafik Schami
Born 1946
Yazid I
647 - 683
Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya
1292 - 1350
Damascius
480 - 550
Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik
691 - 743
Sophronius of Jerusalem
560 - 638
Yasser Seirawan
Born 1960
Nicolaus of Damascus
-64 - 4
Asmahan
1917 - 1944
Abu'l-Fida
1273 - 1331
Andrew of Crete
660 - 740
Shukri al-Quwatli
1891 - 1967
Sulayman ibn Abd al-Malik
674 - 717
Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf
1526 - 1580
Bassam Tibi
Born 1944
Assala Nasri
Born 1969
Zakaria Tamer
Born 1931
Ibn al-Shatir
1305 - 1375
Naser Khader
Born 1963
Ghada al-Samman
Born 1942
Ibn `Asakir
1105 - 1176
Sadiq Jalal al-Azm
1934 - 2016
Sari Nusseibeh
Born 1949
John Moschus
550 - 619
Muhammad Kurd Ali
1876 - 1953
Ibn al-Jazari
1350 - 1429
Ibn Abi Usaibia
1204 - 1269
Ibn al-Qalanisi
1073 - 1160
Ghassan Massoud
Born 1958
Bassel al-Assad
1962 - 1994
Constantin Zureiq
1909 - 2000
Salah al-Din al-Bitar
1912 - 1980
Lena Chamamyan
Born 1980
Muna Wassef
Born 1942
Gregory III Laham
Born 1933
Omar Kharbin
Born 1994
Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik
685 - 738
Muawiya II
661 - 684
Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi
1641 - 1731
Wahbah al-Zuhayli
1932 - 2015
Muhammad Shahrur
1938 - 2019
Omar Amiralay
1944 - 2011
Khaled el-Hassani ben el-Hachemi
1875 - 1936
Khalid Bakdash
1912 - 1995
Khalid al-Azm
1903 - 1965
Ahmad ibn Arabshah
1392 - 1450
Ibn Abidin
1783 - 1836
Fereydoon Hoveyda
1924 - 2006
Najah al-Attar
Born 1933
Maher al-Assad
Born 1967
Jamil Mardam Bey
1894 - 1960
Majededdin Ghazal
Born 1987
Ikram Antaki
1948 - 2000
Suad Amiry
Born 1951
Yusra Mardini
Born 1998
Yazid II
687 - 724
Yusuf al-'Azma
1884 - 1920
Khalil Mardam Bey
1895 - 1959
Shihab al-Umari
1301 - 1349
Dina Katabi
Born 1970
Abd al-Rahman Shahbandar
1880 - 1940
Émile Eddé
1886 - 1949
Rami Makhlouf
Born 1969
Alisar Ailabouni
Born 1989
Rosa Yaseen Hasan
Born 1974
Suat Hayri Ürgüplü
1903 - 1981
Ahmed Kuftaro
1915 - 2004
Muhibb-ud-Deen Al-Khatib
1886 - 1969
Marwan Kassab-Bachi
1934 - 2016
Nabil Maleh
1936 - 2016
Fawzi Selu
1905 - 1972
Ian Copeland
1949 - 2006
Akshamsaddin
1389 - 1460
Soraya Tarzi
1899 - 1968
Walid Muallem
1941 - 2020
Bachar Kouatly
Born 1958
Bassma Kodmani
Born 1958
Ulfat Idilbi
1912 - 2007
Vahé Katcha
1928 - 2003
Ammar Abdulhamid
Born 1966
Burhan Asaf Belge
1899 - 1967
Abd al-Aziz ibn Marwan
Died 705
Raphael of Brooklyn
1860 - 1915
Akram Ojjeh
1918 - 1991
Maamun al-Kuzbari
1914 - 1998
Haitham al-Maleh
Born 1931
Adel Safar
Born 1953
Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam
1181 - 1262
Bashar Jaafari
Born 1956
Tarafa Baghajati
Born 1961
Mohja Kahf
Born 1967
Ahmed Cevad Pasha
1851 - 1900
May Skaf
1969 - 2018
Riad Seif
Born 1946
Dominique Foata
Born 1934
Hassan al-Hakim
1886 - 1988
Bashar Shbib
Born 1959
Moaz al-Khatib
Born 1960
Duraid Lahham
Born 1933
Bashir al-Azma
1910 - 1992
Riad Ismat
1947 - 2020
Charles Debbas
1885 - 1935
Eliyahu Sasson
1902 - 1978
Fares Helou
Born 1961
Peter Fuller
1947 - 1990
Talal Derki
Born 1977
Raja Rafe
Born 1983
Al-Dimashqi (geographer)
1256 - 1327
Suheir Atassi
Born 1971
Feras Esmaeel
Born 1983
Ali Diab
Born 1982
Moussa Abadi
1910 - 1997
Abbas al-Noury
Born 1952
Muhammad al-Yaqoubi
Born 1963
Mary 'Ajami
1888 - 1965
Burhan Sahyouni
Born 1986
Stephen the Sabaite
725 - 802
Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi
1174 - 1245
Badia Masabni
1892 - 1975
Dima Khatib
Born 1971
Ahmed Majdalani
Born 1956
Albert Antébi
1873 - 1919
Fawwaz T. Ulaby
Born 1943
Racha Arodaky
-
Tāhir al-Dschazā'irī
1852 - 1920
Ali Mamlouk
Born 1946
Sara Azmeh Rasmussen
Born 1973
Adel Karasholi
Born 1936
Abdul Rauf al-Kasm
Born 1932
Fawwaz Haddad
Born 1947
Haim Farhi
1760 - 1820
Adel Abdullah
Born 1984
Omar Hasanin
Born 1978
Jehad Al Baour
Born 1987
Dima Wannous
Born 1982
Diana El Jeiroudi
Born 1977
Dawoud Rajiha
1947 - 2012
Edmund Keeley
Born 1928
Amal Arafa
Born 1972
Raed Arafat
Born 1964
Aziz al-Azmeh
Born 1947
Osama Omari
Born 1992
Rasha Rizk
Born 1976
Dima Orsho
Born 1975
Sa'id al-Afghani
1911 - 1997
Jay Abdo
Born 1963
Mohammed Rateb al-Nabulsi
Born 1938
Maher Charif
Born 1950
Youssef Absi
Born 1946
Sara Shamma
Born 1975
Hafez Makhlouf
Born 1971
Ali Al-Tantawi
1909 - 1999
Omar Ibrahim Ghalawanji
Born 1954
Huda Naamani
1930 - 2020
Ghassan Hitto
Born 1963
Jamal Al Sharif
Born 1954
Salwa Al Neimi
Born 1950
Moayad Ajan
Born 1993
Gaius Julius Priscus
-
Rida Pasha al-Rikabi
1864 - 1942
Dündar Ali Osman
Born 1930
Kinan Azmeh
Born 1976
Samer Awad
Born 1982
Sam Hamad
Born 1958
Haqqi al-Azm
1864 - 1955
Turan-Shah
Died 1181
Rafiq Subaie
1930 - 2017
Cyril VI Tanas
1680 - 1760
Taj al-Din al-Hasani
1885 - 1943
Mohammed Ali Bey al-Abed
1867 - 1939
Hisham Ikhtiyar
1941 - 2012
Cosmas of Maiuma
675 - 760
Khalid al-Qasri
686 - 743
Razan Naiem Almoghrabi
-
Ata Bey al-Ayyubi
1877 - 1951
Ibn Abd al-Hadi
1305 - 1343
Farouk Mardam-Bey
Born 1944
Demetrius I Qadi
1861 - 1925
Sabri al-Asali
1903 - 1976
Samuel Vital
1598 - 1677
Jamil al-Ulshi
1883 - 1951
Mohamad Awata
Born 1993
Salim Kallas
1936 - 2013
Nouri al-Jarrah
Born 1956
Radwan Al Azhar
Born 1979
Ismet Cheriff Vanly
1924 - 2011
Izzat Husrieh
1914 - 1975
Randa Kassis
Born 1970
Rafīq Bey al-ʿAzm
1865 - 1925
Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik
677 - 750
Ghayath Almadhoun
Born 1979
Ayman Zeidan
Born 1956
Jamal Suliman
Born 1959
Yisrael Hasson
Born 1955
Qubad Talabani
Born 1977
Lucie Dolène
1931 - 2020
Athanasius III Dabbas
1647 - 1724
Hamid Sulaiman
Born 1986
Sabah Qabbani
1928 - 2015
Fajr Ibrahim
Born 1964
Omran al-Zoubi
1959 - 2018
Umar Rida Kahhala
1905 - 1987
Nadschm ad-Dīn al-Ghazzī
1570 - 1651
Joseph Tawil
1913 - 1999
Noura Ghazi
Born 1981
Muhammad Ali al-Halabi
1937 - 2016
Yasser al-Azma
Born 1942
Hadi al-Bahra
Born 1959
Said al-Ghazzi
1893 - 1967
Jihad Ahmed Jibril
1964 - 2002
Gamliel Cohen
1922 - 2002
Joseph Elian Sarkis
1856 - 1932
Abu Khalil Qabbani
1833 - 1903
Dima Kandalaft
Born 1979
Marie-Thérèse Urvoy
Born 1949
Yara Debsi
Born 1971
Imad Khamis
Born 1961
Huda Akil
Born 1945
Josiah ben Joseph Pinto
1565 - 1648
Ibn Budayr
Born 1701
Hasan al-Kharrat
1861 - 1925
Ahmad Izzat al-Abid
1855 - 1924
Abdul-Nabi Isstaif
Born 1952
Samar Kokash
Born 1972
Riad Beyrouti
1944 - 2019
Sami Sabit Karaman
1877 - 1957
Ali Ghaleb Himmat
Born 1938
Tarek Jabban
Born 1975
Abdullah Dardari
Born 1963
Anas Makhlouf
Born 1973
Mosche Sasson
1925 - 2006
Ribal al-Assad
Born 1975
Lilia al-Atrash
Born 1981
Omar Midani
Born 1994
Issam John Darwich
Born 1945
Aktham Suliman
Born 1970
Lutfi al-Haffar
1891 - 1968
Ali el-Atassi
Born 1967
Samer al-Masry
Born 1969
Afif Bahnassi
1928 - 2017
Meshach Browning
1781 - 1859
Claude Gaignebet
1938 - 2012
Adnan Omran
Born 1934
Burhan Karkutli
1932 - 2003
Mansour al-Omari
Born 1979
Colette Khoury
Born 1937
André Midani
1932 - 2019
Mohammad Jihad al-Laham
Born 1954
Nasib al-Bakri
1888 - 1966
Hassan al-Nouri
Born 1960
The Sheik II
Born 1974
Ziad Hamzeh
Born 1959
Khaled Khoja
Born 1965
Maram Susli
Born 1987
Husam Chadat
Born 1966
Ighraa
Born 1945
Munir al-Ajlani
1912 - 2004
Abdul Rahman Khleifawi
1930 - 2009
Muhammad ibn Shâkir al-Kutubî
1287 - 1363
Dschamal ad-Din al-Qasimi
1866 - 1914
Firas Alshater
Born 1991
Nicolas Siouffi
1829 - 1901
Qadri Jamil
Born 1952
Nazik al-Abid
1898 - 1959
Majed al-Haj
Born 1985
Marwan Farhat
Born 1960
Francesco De Martini
1903 - 1980
Khaled Al-Brijawi
Born 1990
Maher Al-Sayed
Born 1979
Anas al-Abdah
Born 1967
George Tomeh
1922 - 2004
Elias Coueter
1896 - 1985
Omar Khalil
Born 1977
Caresse Bashar
Born 1975
Ahlam al-Nasr
Born 1992
Wafic Saïd
Born 1939
Bassel Shehadeh
1984 - 2012
Mohammed Dib Zaitoun
Born 1951
Rana Kabbani
Born 1958
Zaher Midani
Born 1987
'A'isha al-Ba'uniyya
Died 1517
Nazir Nabaa
1938 - 2016
Jack Kachkar
Born 1963
Mohammad Habash
Born 1962
Safwan al-Qudsi
Born 1940
Germanos Mouakkad
1853 - 1912
Jacques Georges Habib Hafouri
1916 - 2011
Nasuhi al-Bukhari
1881 - 1961
Paul Achkar
1893 - 1982
Cemil Bilsel
1879 - 1949
Shady Othman
Born 1981
Athanasius IV Jawhar
1733 - 1794
Masen Abou-Dakn
Born 1963