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.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Dublin during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 433 notable births.
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 cricket — 2.6× the global rate.
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.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Writing
- Art & Design
- Music
- Other
- Filtered to 1900s Clear ×
Samuel Beckett
1906 - 1989
Francis Bacon (artist)
1909 - 1992
Denis O'Dea
1905 - 1978
William McCrea (astronomer)
1904 - 1999
Noel Purcell (actor)
1900 - 1985
Francis Festing
1902 - 1976
Kevin Barry
1902 - 1920
James Dillon (Fine Gael politician)
1902 - 1986
Montgomery Tully
1904 - 1988
Helen Megaw
1907 - 2002
Denis Johnston
1901 - 1984
Dominick Browne, 4th Baron Oranmore and Browne
1901 - 2002
William Norton
1900 - 1963
Jimmy Dunne
1905 - 1949
Frederick Boland
1904 - 1985
Myles Dillon
1900 - 1972
Roddy Connolly
1901 - 1980
Cecil Terence Ingold
1905 - 2010
Gerard Sweetman
1908 - 1970
Stanley Woods
1903 - 1993
John "Pondoro" Taylor
1904 - 1969
Mervyn Wall
1908 - 1997
Charles Farrell (Irish actor)
1900 - 1988
Stella Steyn
1907 - 1987
Francis Brambell
1901 - 1970
Janet McNeill
1907 - 1994
John McCann (Irish politician)
1905 - 1980
Harry Gold (musician)
1907 - 2005
Arthur Sweeney
1909 - 1940
Phyllis Clinch
1901 - 1984
Frank Devlin
1900 - 1988
Eugene Davy
1904 - 1996
Tom Farquharson
1900 - 1970
Todd Andrews
1901 - 1985
John Stewart Collis
1900 - 1984
Robert Edgeworth-Johnstone
1900 - 1994
Bernard Williams (footballer)
1908 - 2004
Charles E. Kelly (cartoonist)
1902 - 1981
Eileen O'Casey
1900 - 1995
Hilda Roberts
1901 - 1982
Billy Jordan
1909 - 2000
Audrey Russell
1906 - 1989
Allister Grosart
1906 - 1984
Digby Morton
1906 - 1983
Seán O'Sullivan (painter)
1906 - 1964
Kevin William Barden
1908 - 2004
Mary Manning (writer)
1905 - 1999
Annette Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven
1909 - 1989
Bang Bang (Dubliner)
1906 - 1981
Sonny Brogan
1907 - 1965
Frank Flood
1901 - 1921
Honor Crowley
1903 - 1966
John Megaw
1909 - 1997
Niall Harrington
1901 - 1981
Máire Ní Scolaí
1909 - 1985
Gordon 'Curly' Mack
1900 - 1949
John O'Donovan (politician)
1908 - 1982
Arthur Potter
1905 - 1998
Colville Deverell
1907 - 1995
Norma Stoker
1900 - 1962
Dairine Vanston
1903 - 1988
Patrick Burke (Dublin politician)
1904 - 1985
William Glen (footballer)
1903 - 1981
Robert William Alexander
1905 - 1979
Cathleen Delany
1907 - 1997
Denis Doyle
Born 1900
Donald McCowen
1908 - 1998
Dolly Robinson
1901 - 1977
Gardner Budd
1904 - 1976
Naomi Overend
1900 - 1993
David Byrne (footballer, born 1905)
1905 - 1990
Charles Gerald McNamara
1900 - 1965
Kevin Dixon (attorney general)
1902 - 1959
Leo Crawford
1903 - 1973
Kevin Haugh
1901 - 1969
Marcus Ruddle
1905 - 1986
Andrew S. Clarkin
1900 - 1955
Harry Forsyth
1903 - 2004
Jack Lawrence (cricketer)
1904 - 1984
Morgan Crowe
1907 - 1993