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 53 of 3,490 notable people

0073 SCULPTOR

Augustus Saint-Gaudens

1848 - 1907

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0143 PHILANTHROPIST

Thomas John Barnardo

1845 - 1905

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0222 POLITICIAN

Lord George Hamilton

1845 - 1927

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0253 ASTRONOMER

Margaret Lindsay Huggins

1848 - 1915

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0267 ASTRONOMER

Robert Stawell Ball

1840 - 1913

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0274 PHILANTHROPIST

Edward Guinness, 1st Earl of Iveagh

1847 - 1927

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0281 POLICE

Robert Anderson (Scotland Yard official)

1841 - 1918

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0339 HISTORIAN

Vincent Arthur Smith

1848 - 1920

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0412 PAINTER

Sarah Purser

1848 - 1943

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0437 ORNITHOLOGIST

Valentine Ball

1843 - 1894

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0497 AUTHOR

Alfred Perceval Graves

1846 - 1931

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0546 POLITICIAN

Arthur Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun

1840 - 1915

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0628 POLICE

Thomas F. Byrnes

1842 - 1910

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0643 LIBERAL

Edward Villiers, 5th Earl of Clarendon

1846 - 1914

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0750 ENGINEER

Charles Dickinson West

1847 - 1908

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0766 JUDGE

Richard Collins, Baron Collins

1842 - 1911

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0846 SPORT

Joshua Millner

1847 - 1931

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0899 CHEMIST

Chichester Bell

1848 - 1924

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0959 POLITICIAN

Hugh Seymour, 6th Marquess of Hertford

1843 - 1912

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0964 JOURNALIST

Edmund O'Donovan

1844 - 1883

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1031 POLITICIAN

Edmund Dwyer Gray (Irish politician)

1845 - 1888

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1124 POLITICIAN

Harvey du Cros

1846 - 1918

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1185 DIPLOMAT

Joseph Henry Longford

1849 - 1925

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1199 MATHEMATICIAN

Robert William Genese

1848 - 1928

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1323 PAINTER

George W. Joy

1844 - 1925

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1407 POLITICIAN

William O'Shea

1840 - 1905

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1428 JOURNALIST

Joseph Patrick McDonnell

1846 - 1906

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1481 PRIEST

William Walsh (archbishop of Dublin)

1841 - 1921

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1612 SCULPTOR

Albert Bruce-Joy

1842 - 1924

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1628 EDITOR

William M. Laffan

1848 - 1909

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1710 POLITICIAN

Hugh McCalmont

1845 - 1924

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1742 SCHOLAR

Reginald Walter Macan

1848 - 1941

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1831 POLITICIAN

Forbes George Vernon

1843 - 1911

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1889 EDITOR

Sir Charles Cameron, 1st Baronet

1841 - 1924

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1985 POLITICIAN

J. E. Kenny

1845 - 1900

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2034 PAINTER

Marianne Fannin

1845 - 1938

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2134 ENGINEER

Samuel Geoghegan

1845 - 1928

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2141 POLITICIAN

William Lennon

1849 - 1938

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2217 SINGER

William Ludwig (singer)

1847 - 1923

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2262 POLITICIAN

William Kenny (politician)

1846 - 1921

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2263 CLERGY

Henry Bernard Carpenter

1840 - 1890

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2441 PRIEST

Joseph Byrne (bishop)

1843 - 1901

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2613 MILITAR

John Tracy (Medal of Honor)

1848 - 1918

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2670 CIVIL SERVICE

James Digges La Touche

1844 - 1921

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2802 ACTIVIST

Margaret Dockrell

1849 - 1926

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2824 BISHOP

Brandram Boileau Ussher

1845 - 1925

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2873 PHILANTHROPIST

Barbara McDonnell

1847 - 1928

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2983 WRITER

Catherine Mary MacSorley

1848 - 1929

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3275 SOLDIER

Peter O'Brien (Medal of Honor)

1842 - 1898

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3298 NOVELIST

May Laffan

1849 - 1916

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3434 ORNITHOLOGIST

Percy Evans Freke

1844 - 1931

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3443 ASSEMBLY

Thomas Boyd (Wisconsin politician)

Born 1844

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3445 PAINTER

Richard Whateley West

1848 - 1905

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