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 1910s Clear ×
Théo Lefèvre
1914 - 1973
Johan Daisne
1912 - 1978
Jan Dhondt
1915 - 1972
Robert Van Eenaeme
1916 - 1959
Romain Deconinck
1915 - 1994
André de Staercke
1913 - 2001
Roger Dragonetti
1915 - 2000
Jean van den Bosch
1910 - 1985
Freddy Chaves
1918 - 2004
Jozef Vergote
1910 - 1992
François Bernard (acteur)
1914 - 2003
Philippe Lippens
1910 - 1989
Eric Buyssens
1910 - 2000
Guy Logiest
1912 - 1991
Victor-Gaston Martiny
1916 - 1996
Jean Beyer
1914 - 2002
Jane Vignery
1913 - 1974
Guillaume Met de Penninghen
1912 - 1990
Joseph-Floribert Cornelis
1910 - 2001
Bart Lotigiers
1914 - 1995
Michel de Smet
1912 - 2006
Reinhard van Hoorickx
1918 - 1997
Joseph van der Straeten
1918 - 2010
Émile Coryn
1914 - 1989