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 53 of 1,536 notable people

0030 STAGE

Adolphe Appia

1862 - 1928

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0042 LINGUIST

Charles Bally

1865 - 1947

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0105 DAUGHTER

Sophie of Merenberg

1868 - 1927

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0109 ARTIST

Charles Ricketts

1866 - 1931

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0130 COMPOSER

Henri Christiné

1867 - 1941

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0162 MATHEMATICIAN

René de Saussure

1868 - 1943

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0195 ARTIST

Moina Mathers

1865 - 1928

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0225 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Eugène Pittard

1867 - 1962

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0233 ORIENTALIST

Max van Berchem

1863 - 1921

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0284 WRITER

Philippe Monnier

1864 - 1911

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0305 ENGINEER

René Thury

1860 - 1938

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0365 BOTANIST

Gustave Beauverd

1867 - 1942

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0375 NOVELIST

Louis Dumur

1860 - 1933

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0393 PAINTER

Richard Ranft

1862 - 1931

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0425 PHOTOGRAPHER

Georges-Louis Arlaud

1869 - 1944

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0461 PAINTER

Alexandre Perrier

1862 - 1936

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0473 PAINTER

Abraham Hermanjat

1862 - 1932

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0492 SPORT

Raoul de Boigne

1862 - 1949

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0602 MILITAR

Nicolas Nikolaïevitch de Leuchtenberg (1868-1928)

1868 - 1928

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0624 PHILOLOGIST

Bernard Bouvier

1861 - 1941

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0625 ARTIST

Hélène de Mandrot

1867 - 1948

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0629 SURGEON

Georg Lotheissen

1868 - 1941

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0646 PLAYWRIGHT

Victor de Cottens

1862 - 1956

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0794 SCULPTOR

Maurice Reymond de Broutelles

1862 - 1936

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0802 THEOLOGIAN

Friedrich Andersen

1860 - 1940

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0827 POET

Charles Vignier

1863 - 1934

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0890 LAWYER

Michel Revon

1867 - 1947

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0938 BANK

Guillaume Fatio

1865 - 1958

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0981 PHYSICIAN

Aimé Schwob

1864 - 1926

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1004 POET

Mathias Morhardt

1863 - 1939

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1008 ARMY

Cornelis DeWitt Willcox

1861 - 1938

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1032 PAINTER

David Estoppey

1862 - 1952

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1034 WRITER

Louis Duchosal

1862 - 1901

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1100 NATURALIST

Camille Pictet

1864 - 1893

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1168 PAINTER

Marie Bedot-Diodati

1866 - 1958

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1208 POLITICIAN

Jean Boissonnas

1867 - 1951

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1210 CHEMIST

Philippe Chuit

1866 - 1939

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1212 ARCHITECT

Frédéric de Morsier

1861 - 1931

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1213 PHOTOGRAPHER

Edmond-Victor Boissonnas

1862 - 1890

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1229 ARCHITECT

Alfred Olivet

1863 - 1942

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1256 BANK

Henry Fatio

1863 - 1930

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1257 JOURNALIST

Ernest Grosselin

1869 - 1955

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1260 PAINTER

Pierre Marc Antoine Dufaux

1866 - 1936

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1275 PAINTER

Armand Cacheux

1868 - 1965

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1281 PAINTER

François Joseph Vernay

1864 - 1950

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1305 POLITICIAN

John Gignoux

1860 - 1930

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1312 POLITICIAN

Louis Ody

1869 - 1908

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1329 ARCHITECT

Léon Werner Bovy

1863 - 1950

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1341 ACADEMIC

Edouard Long

1868 - 1929

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1414 ARCHITECT

Joseph Marschall

1865 - 1924

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1430 POLITICIAN

Lucien Pictet

1864 - 1928

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1507 EXPLORER

Fernand Largeau

1869 - 1932

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1530 POLITICIAN

Victor Dusseiller

1862 - 1929

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