51.0534° N, 3.7250° E
GENT
Most Famous People Born in Gent, Belgium
- Notable people
- 850
- Peak decade
- 1980s
- Median birth year
- 1897
- Most distinctive
- Rower 9.6×
Charles V's birthplace and a Flemish Primitive stronghold — the Painter bench tracks Van Eyck's altarpiece and the long wake of Hugo van der Goes and Théo van Rysselberghe. The real oddity is a Rower cohort wildly out of proportion to anything else (thank the Watersportbaan) sitting next to a Conductor line that runs from Jacob Obrecht straight through Herreweghe's early-music revival.
One face per century — the most globally famous figure born in Gent during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 64 notable births.
What Gent Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Politician is Gent's biggest profession — 17% of all notables (146).
Gent over-indexes on rower — 9.6× the global rate.
Gent under-produces actor — only 0.4× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Gent's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Art & Design
- Music
- Writing
- Science
- Other
- Filtered to 1850s Clear ×
Edward Anseele
1856 - 1938
Gérard Cooreman
1852 - 1926
Paul Fredericq
1850 - 1920
Jules Van den Heuvel
1854 - 1926
Joris Helleputte
1852 - 1925
Jean Delvin
1853 - 1922
Theodoor Verstraete
1850 - 1907
Léon Fredericq
1851 - 1935
Georges Van der Straeten
1856 - 1928
Gustave Den Duyts
1850 - 1897
Theophiel Coopman
1852 - 1915
Gustave Vanaise
1854 - 1902
Arnold t'Kint de Roodenbeke
1853 - 1928
Édouard de Laveleye
1854 - 1938
Émile-Jean Seghers
1855 - 1927
Emma De Vigne
1850 - 1898
Joseph Van den Gheyn
1854 - 1913
Maurice van der Bruggen
1852 - 1919
Emmanuel Chauvière
1850 - 1910
Gustaaf Eylenbosch
1856 - 1939
Frédéric van den Steen de Jehay
1858 - 1918
Julien Dulait
1855 - 1926
Paul Terlinden
1858 - 1935
Léopold Beosier
1855 - 1935
Werner van den Steen de Jehay
1854 - 1934
Amaury de Ghellinck d'Elseghem Vaernewyck
1851 - 1919
Albert Mechelynck
1854 - 1924
Jean-Alfred de Lanier
1855 - 1939
Jean-Jacques Dierman
1850 - 1910
Joannes Lampens
1850 - 1922