36.1804° N, 86.7409° W
NASHVILLE
Most Famous People Born in Nashville, United States
- Notable people
- 804
- Peak decade
- 1980s
- Median birth year
- 1941
- Most distinctive
- Songwriter 8.7×
Nashville's Songwriter bench is Music Row in one line of the file — the Bradley and RCA studios that built modern country and then absorbed Americana, gospel and contemporary Christian writing on top. The heavier-than-expected Baseball count is older, a holdover from the Nashville Vols of the Southern Association, while the Music and Singer lines run from the Grand Ole Opry's founding generation through the outlaw country and contemporary Americana eras.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Nashville during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 79 notable births.
What Nashville Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Football is Nashville's biggest profession — 10% of all notables (80).
Nashville over-indexes on songwriter — 8.7× the global rate.
Nashville under-produces writer — only 0.4× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Nashville's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Music
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Writing
- Science
- Other
- Field: Politician Clear ×
Bill Frist
Born 1952
Julian Bond
1940 - 2015
John Bell (Tennessee politician)
1796 - 1869
Peter Hardeman Burnett
1807 - 1895
Jim Cooper
Born 1954
Roy Cooper
Born 1957
Mickey Kantor
Born 1939
James C. Jones
1809 - 1859
Linn Boyd
1800 - 1859
Henry Johnson (Louisiana politician)
1783 - 1864
Steve Southerland (Florida politician)
Born 1965
Harry P. Cain
1906 - 1979
Jim Bacchus
Born 1949
Bob Clement
Born 1943
James B. Pearson
1920 - 2009
Hill McAlister
1875 - 1959
Alexander Barrow
1801 - 1846
Richard Fulton
1927 - 2018
Bill Boner
Born 1945
Harold D. Cooley
1897 - 1974
Dawson Mathis
1940 - 2017
Joseph H. Acklen
1850 - 1938
Luke Lea (American politician, born 1879)
1879 - 1945
William Henry Sneed
1812 - 1869
William F. Hagerty
Born 1959
Douglas Henry
1926 - 2017
Edwin Hickman Ewing
1809 - 1902
Andrew Ewing
1813 - 1864
Edward White Robertson
1823 - 1887
Archibald Hunter Arrington
1809 - 1872
John W. Gaines
1860 - 1926
David Briley
Born 1964
Tom Cross (politician)
Born 1958
Thomas B. Evans Jr.
Born 1931
Edgar C. Ellis
1854 - 1947
Joseph Carlton Loser
1892 - 1984
John Bennett Dawson
1798 - 1845
David H. Simmons
Born 1952
Richard Merrill Atkinson
1894 - 1947
Washington Barrow
1807 - 1866
Beverly Briley
1914 - 1980
Everett J. Murphy
1852 - 1922
Monica Wehby
Born 1962
James Carroll Napier
1845 - 1940
Chip Saltsman
Born 1968
Jere Baxter
1852 - 1904
Felix Robertson
1781 - 1865
Sherry Jones
-
Jason Powell
Born 1978
Gayle Harrell
Born 1943
Dan Liljenquist
Born 1974
Thomas Menees
1823 - 1905
Jack Tate (politician)
Born 1967
Larry Teague
Born 1958
Harold Love
Born 1972
Thomas Fletcher (American politician, born 1817)
1817 - 1880
Larry Jent
Born 1951
Jennie M. Forehand
Born 1935
Thomas Jefferson Foster
1809 - 1887
Charles Meier
Born 2013
William M. Bennett
1869 - 1930
Barbara McConnell
1936 - 2016
Jo Ann Sprague
Born 1931
James McBride (politician)
1802 - 1875
Robert Ewing (mayor)
1849 - 1932
Felix Zollicoffer Wilson
1866 - 1950
Charles P. Fahey
1862 - 1915
John Meredith Bass
1804 - 1878
Ellen Harley
Born 1946
Hal Harper
Born 1948
Cynthia Jenkins
1924 - 2001
Henry D. Lindsley
1872 - 1938
John Boyd (Texas politician)
1796 - 1873
Jane Myron
Died 2020
Naomi C. Matusow
Born 1938
James W. McHenry
1864 - 1931
C. Robb Robinson
1922 - 2006
Clare Woolwine
-