39.9292° N, 75.2300° W

PHILADELPHIA

Most Famous People Born in Philadelphia, USA

Notable people
5,575
Peak decade
1940s
Median birth year
1928
Most distinctive
Baseball 6.0×

The original American capital, then the capital of nothing in particular, then a sports town. Philadelphia's notables run thick through the 18th century — lawyers, philanthropists, financiers — and then settle into a long, steady output of baseball players, basketball players, jazz bandleaders, and character actors. The city has one of the highest shares of notables in organized labor of the early 20th century and one of the deepest benches of soul singers of the late 20th.

Standouts

What Philadelphia Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Politician is Philadelphia's biggest profession — 9% of all notables (482).

Philadelphia over-indexes on baseball 6.0× the global rate.

Philadelphia under-produces football — only 0.4× the global rate.

  1. Politician 482 0.7×
  2. Actor 414 1.4×
  3. Baseball 383 6.0×
  4. Basket 260 3.7×
  5. Football 251 0.4×
  6. Music 206 2.6×
  7. Lawyer 185 1.9×
  8. Singer 161 1.4×
  1. Baseball 383 6.0×
  2. Basket 260 3.7×
  3. Boxer 72 3.3×
  4. Rower 57 2.8×
  5. Music 206 2.6×
  6. Officer 84 2.3×
  7. Lawyer 185 1.9×
  8. Film 113 1.6×
  1. Football 251 0.4×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Philadelphia's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
  • Sports
  • Politics & Law
  • Film & TV
  • Music
  • Writing
  • Art & Design
  • Other
All5,575
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Showing 54 of 5,575 notable people

0088 POLITICIAN

George M. Dallas

1792 - 1864

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0223 ANTHROPOLOGIST

Samuel George Morton

1799 - 1851

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0268 ECONOMIST

Henry Charles Carey

1793 - 1879

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0294 THEOLOGIAN

Charles Hodge

1797 - 1878

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0419 NATURALIST

Titian Peale

1799 - 1885

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0460 PAINTER

Thomas Doughty (artist)

1793 - 1856

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0590 LAWYER

William M. Meredith

1799 - 1873

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0663 BOTANIST

Richard Harlan

1796 - 1843

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0685 OFFICER

Uriah P. Levy

1792 - 1862

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0858 POLITICIAN

Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton

1799 - 1864

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0897 EMPLOYEE

Franklin Peale

1795 - 1870

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1036 POLITICIAN

John Brown Francis

1791 - 1864

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1066 POLITICIAN

William C. Preston

1794 - 1860

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1150 PAINTER

Anna Claypoole Peale

1791 - 1878

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1193 ARMY

Persifor Frazer Smith

1798 - 1858

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1221 LAWYER

John Church Hamilton

1792 - 1882

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1278 CONSUL

Warder Cresson

1798 - 1860

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1428 PHILANTHROPIST

Elliott Cresson

1796 - 1854

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1437 COMPOSER

Francis Johnson (composer)

1792 - 1844

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1533 POLITICIAN

John Biddle (Michigan politician)

1792 - 1859

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1586 OFFICER

Alexander J. Dallas (United States Navy officer)

1791 - 1844

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1663 LAWYER

John M. Read

1797 - 1874

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1718 PAINTER

Margaretta Angelica Peale

1795 - 1882

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1852 POLITICIAN

Richard Biddle

1796 - 1847

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1922 POLITICIAN

Francis Swaine Muhlenberg

1795 - 1831

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1944 SON

John Payne Todd

1792 - 1852

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2050 ARTIST

Edward Williams Clay

1799 - 1857

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2143 LAWYER

Joseph Biles Anthony

1795 - 1851

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2152 POLITICIAN

Samuel M. Moore

1796 - 1875

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2374 POLITICIAN

Charles Brown (congressman)

1797 - 1883

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2453 POLITICIAN

George Washington Toland

1796 - 1869

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2565 LIEUTENANT

William Sitgreaves Cox

1790 - 1874

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2652 MILITAR

Thomas Biddle

1790 - 1831

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2759 JUDGE

James Hall (writer)

1793 - 1868

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2812 CARTOONIST

David Claypoole Johnston

1798 - 1865

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2935 PAINTER

James Otto Lewis

1799 - 1858

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3154 PLAYWRIGHT

Richard Penn Smith

1799 - 1854

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3315 NATURALIST

Jacob Green

1790 - 1841

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3339 PHARMACIST

Daniel B. Smith

1792 - 1883

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3400 LAWYER

James S. Green (attorney)

1792 - 1862

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3496 ENTOMOLOGIST

Margaretta Morris

1797 - 1867

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3509 GEOLOGIST

Lardner Vanuxem

1792 - 1848

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3627 MINISTER

Howard Malcom

1799 - 1879

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3706 JOURNALIST

Charles Cist (editor)

1792 - 1868

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3710 JUDGE

Edward King (jurist)

1794 - 1873

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3759 HEBRAIST

Samuel H. Turner

1790 - 1861

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4031 JUDGE

Benjamin Faneuil Dunkin

1792 - 1874

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4058 PAINTER

Hugh Reinagle

1790 - 1834

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4119 PREACHER

Christian Frederic Crusé

1794 - 1865

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4330 OFFICER

William Mervine

1791 - 1868

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4348 OFFICER

Charles Stewart McCauley

1793 - 1869

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5010 GENTLEMAN

William Wagner (philanthropist)

1796 - 1885

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5244 ARMY

Henry J. Wilson

1793 - 1872

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5398 LAWYER

Archibald Randall

1797 - 1846

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