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 1930s Clear ×
David Ruelle
Born 1935
Marc Van Montagu
Born 1933
Luc Beyer de Ryke
1933 - 2018
Lily Castel
Born 1937
Roeland Raes
Born 1934
Jean Vérame
Born 1936
René Van Meenen
Born 1931
Jacqueline Nova
1935 - 1975
Jos Wuytack
Born 1935
Walter De Buck
1934 - 2014
Richard Orlans
Born 1931
Willy Bosschem
Born 1930
Herman Balthazar
Born 1938
Lucien Goethals
1931 - 2006
Gérard Fourez
1937 - 2018
Francis Alfred Moerman
1936 - 2010
Jean Schwind
1935 - 1985
Piet Van Waeyenberge
Born 1938
François De Wagheneire
1937 - 2015
Marc Rombaut
Born 1939
Monica Van Kerrebroeck
Born 1939
Ivan Beghin
1932 - 2015
Emile Flamant (homme politique)
1933 - 1994
Janine Ghobert
Born 1931
Firmin De Coster
1930 - 2006