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
- Field: Sculptor Clear ×
George Minne
1866 - 1941
Peter Anton von Verschaffelt
1710 - 1793
Arne Quinze
Born 1971
Laurent Delvaux
1696 - 1778
Jozef Cantré
1890 - 1957
Paul de Vigne
1843 - 1901
Georges Van der Straeten
1856 - 1928
Julien Vande Veegaete
1886 - 1960
Octave Landuyt
Born 1922
Gustave Van Vaerenbergh
1873 - 1927
Olivier van Ghent
1470 - 1512
Dirk De Keyzer
Born 1958
Linde Ergo
Born 1966