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 41 of 1,536 notable people

0002 ENTREPRENEUR

Henry Dunant

1828 - 1910

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0012 POET

Henri-Frédéric Amiel

1821 - 1881

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0050 LAWYER

Gustave Moynier

1826 - 1910

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0059 ORNITHOLOGIST

Alfred Newton

1829 - 1907

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0072 ENTOMOLOGIST

Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure

1829 - 1905

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0093 WRITER

Victor Cherbuliez

1829 - 1899

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0112 COMPOSER

Giulio Regondi

1822 - 1872

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0117 POLITICIAN

Pierre Tirard

1827 - 1893

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0148 SELLER

Augustus Wollaston Franks

1826 - 1897

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0154 CHEMIST

Jacques-Louis Soret

1827 - 1890

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0219 POLITICIAN

Marie Goegg-Pouchoulin

1826 - 1899

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0227 PAINTER

Pierre-Victor Galland

1822 - 1892

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0377 ARABIST

Charles Pierre Henri Rieu

1820 - 1902

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0385 POLITICIAN

Philippe Le Royer

1826 - 1897

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0435 POLITICS

Lord John Hay (Royal Navy officer, born 1827)

1827 - 1916

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0450 COMPOSER

Charles Samuel Bovy-Lysberg

1821 - 1873

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0476 PALAEONTOLOGIST

Perceval de Loriol

1828 - 1908

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0491 PAINTER

Gustave Eugène Castan

1823 - 1892

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0612 POLITICIAN

Charles Friderich

1828 - 1880

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0720 ASTRONOMER

Émile Gautier (astronome)

1822 - 1891

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0741 THEOLOGIAN

Auguste Bouvier

1826 - 1893

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0751 SALONNIÈRE

Hélène de Gingins

1828 - 1905

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0753 BOTANIST

Jules-César Ducommun

1829 - 1892

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0762 PAINTER

Louise-Émilie Leleux-Giraud

1824 - 1885

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0833 WRITER

William Marcet

1828 - 1900

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0898 PAINTER

Auguste de Pinelli

1823 - 1890

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0986 PASTOR

Théophile Bost

1828 - 1910

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1038 BANK

Édouard Hentsch

1829 - 1892

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1147 PAINTER

Charles DuBois-Melly

1821 - 1905

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1161 NATURALIST

Aloïs Humbert

1829 - 1887

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1165 NAVY

Robert Coote (Royal Navy officer)

1820 - 1898

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1231 POLITICIAN

Ernest Pictet

1829 - 1909

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1265 THEOLOGIAN

Louis Tournier

1828 - 1898

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1278 POLITICIAN

John Braillard

1822 - 1883

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1287 ARCHITECT

Gabriel Diodati

1828 - 1914

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1303 POLITICIAN

Roger-Adrien de Riencourt

1822 - 1862

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1347 POLITICIAN

Théodore Lissignol

1820 - 1886

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1386 ENGINEER

Édouard Bossi

1829 - 1905

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1448 POLITICIAN

Gustave Pictet

1827 - 1900

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1476 LEGISLATIVE

Charles Hastings Barton

1829 - 1902

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1522 AGRONOMIST

Samuel Biéler

1827 - 1911

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