46.2001° N, 6.1500° E

GENEVE

Most Famous People Born in Geneve, Switzerland

Notable people
1,536
Peak decade
1960s
Median birth year
1917
Most distinctive
Bank 6.0×

A Protestant republic that became, in the 19th century, the world's capital of banking and international diplomacy. Geneva's distinctive professions are bankers, theologians, botanists, pianists, photographers, and physicists — a combination that exists almost nowhere else. Rousseau was born here, Calvin made it the Protestant Rome, Henri Dunant founded the Red Cross here, and Saussure essentially invented modern linguistics at the university.

Through the Centuries

One face per century — the most globally famous figure born in Geneve during each.

What Geneve Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Geneve's biggest profession — 9% of all notables (138).

Geneve over-indexes on bank6.0× the global rate.

Geneve under-produces football — only 0.4× the global rate.

  1. Politician138
  2. Writer106
  3. Painter105
  4. Actor67
  5. Football64
  6. Artist43
  7. Lawyer35
  8. Architect34
  1. Bank156.0×
  2. Theologian244.3×
  3. Botanist243.9×
  4. Pianist153.6×
  5. Driver163.4×
  6. Photographer243.2×
  7. Physicist203.1×
  8. Artist432.7×
  1. Football640.4×
  2. Singer200.6×

Profession Mix Over Time

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

1550160016501700175018001850190019502000
  • Art & Design
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Politics & Law
  • Sports
  • Film & TV
  • Other
All1,536
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Showing 23 of 1,536 notable people

0017 WRITER

Rodolphe Töpffer

1799 - 1846

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0046 SCULPTOR

James Pradier

1790 - 1852

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0119 THEOLOGIAN

Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné

1794 - 1872

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0142 POLITICIAN

James Fazy

1794 - 1878

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0231 SCULPTOR

Antoine Bovy

1795 - 1877

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0249 THEOLOGIAN

François Gaussen

1790 - 1863

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0306 PASTOR

Felix Neff

1798 - 1829

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0333 BOTANIST

Jean Étienne Duby

1798 - 1885

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0350 PASTOR

Ami Bost

1790 - 1874

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0353 ECONOMIST

Antoine-Elisée Cherbuliez

1797 - 1869

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0437 BIOLOGIST

Jean-Louis Prevost

1790 - 1850

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0441 BOTANIST

Louis Théodore Frederic Colladon

1792 - 1862

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0520 BANK

François Bartholoni

1796 - 1881

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0594 PAINTER

Adrienne Pauline Bacle

1796 - 1855

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0637 PHILANTHROPIST

Anna Eynard-Lullin

1793 - 1868

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0886 POET

Jean Antoine Petit-Senn

1792 - 1870

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0919 PORTRAITIST

Nancy Mérienne

1793 - 1860

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1174 EDUCATOR

Matilde Calandrini

1794 - 1866

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1215 PAINTER

Joseph Hornung

1792 - 1870

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1247 PAINTER

Louis Anspach

1795 - 1873

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1349 POLITICIAN

François-Jean Moulinié

1796 - 1857

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1408 ARTIST

Suzanne Françoise L'Huillier

1794 - 1822

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1508 ENSEIGNANT

Isaac-Etienne Chomel

1796 - 1871

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