53.3495° N, 6.2602° W

DUBLIN

Most Famous People Born in Dublin, Ireland

Notable people
3,490
Peak decade
1980s
Median birth year
1946
Most distinctive
Cricket 2.6×

A city defined by what it sends abroad and what it keeps at home. Dublin's notables are split almost in two: a literary tradition that the rest of the English-speaking world claims as its own — Wilde, Shaw, Beckett, Swift, Burke — and a sporting culture in Gaelic football, hurling, and camogie that exists almost exclusively on the island itself. The result is a profession mix that looks both unusually international and unusually local at the same time.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Dublin during each.

What Dublin Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Football is Dublin's biggest profession — 21% of all notables (746).

Dublin over-indexes on cricket2.6× the global rate.

  1. Football746
  2. Politician316
  3. Actor234
  4. Player179
  5. Cricket118
  6. Writer108
  7. Singer95
  8. Painter92
  1. Cricket1182.6×
  2. Player1792.6×
  3. Football7461.9×
  4. Author501.7×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Dublin's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

1550160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Writing
  • Art & Design
  • Music
  • Other
All3,490
Sort By

Showing 26 of 3,490 notable people

0121 POLITICIAN

Henry Grattan

1746 - 1820

Preview
0196 LITERARY

Edmond Malone

1741 - 1812

Preview
0242 POLITICIAN

James Napper Tandy

1740 - 1803

Preview
0310 POLITICIAN

Matthew Lyon

1749 - 1822

Preview
0405 PAINTER

Hugh Douglas Hamilton

1740 - 1808

Preview
0502 POLITICIAN

Philip Francis (politician)

1740 - 1818

Preview
0538 MILITAR

Théobald Dillon

1745 - 1792

Preview
0669 PAINTER

Thomas Burke (artist)

1749 - 1815

Preview
0696 MILITAR

Richard Butler (general)

1743 - 1791

Preview
0827 ILLUSTRATOR

William Kilburn

1745 - 1818

Preview
0837 ARCHITECT

Michael Stapleton

1747 - 1801

Preview
0881 PAINTER

Thomas Hickey (painter)

1741 - 1824

Preview
0998 ENGRAVER

John Dixon (engraver)

1740 - 1811

Preview
1304 POLITICIAN

William Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby

1744 - 1806

Preview
1330 PAINTER

Jonathan Fisher (painter)

1740 - 1809

Preview
1411 PRIEST

John Kearney (bishop)

1742 - 1813

Preview
1725 PRINCE

Sir Henry Johnson, 1st Baronet

1748 - 1835

Preview
1774 ACTOR

John O'Keeffe (writer)

1747 - 1833

Preview
1809 ARTIST

John Ramage (artist)

1748 - 1802

Preview
1848 PAINTER

John James Barralet

1747 - 1815

Preview
1876 POLITICIAN

Luke Gardiner, 1st Viscount Mountjoy

1745 - 1798

Preview
1952 LAWYER

Gervase Parker Bushe

1744 - 1793

Preview
2014 ENGRAVER

James Watson (engraver)

1740 - 1790

Preview
2209 ACTOR

Mary Ann Costello

1747 - 1827

Preview
2903 SOLDIER

Enrique White

1741 - 1811

Preview
3339 RÉVOLUTION FRANÇAISE

Jean Thomas Ward

1749 - 1794

Preview