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
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 556 notable births.
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.
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.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Music
- Writing
- Art & Design
- Other
- Field: Officer Clear ×
George B. McClellan
1826 - 1885
John Gibbon
1827 - 1896
John A. Dahlgren
1809 - 1870
Andrew A. Humphreys
1810 - 1883
Uriah P. Levy
1792 - 1862
Thomas L. Kane
1822 - 1883
John R. Brooke
1838 - 1926
Charles Stewart (1778–1869)
1778 - 1869
Samuel Nicholas
1744 - 1790
Charles Ferguson Smith
1807 - 1862
William P. Biddle
1853 - 1923
George Cadwalader
1806 - 1879
Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Sr.
1874 - 1948
Wilson Brown (admiral)
1882 - 1957
Alexander J. Dallas (United States Navy officer)
1791 - 1844
Peter Conover Hains
1840 - 1921
Edward Julius Berwind
1848 - 1936
Franklin Wharton
1767 - 1818
Henry Morris Naglee
1815 - 1886
Richard S. Edwards
1885 - 1956
John Hyland
1912 - 1998
Charles Grymes McCawley
1827 - 1891
George A. McCall
1802 - 1868
Jacob Zeilin
1806 - 1880
Charles Mitchell Thomas
1846 - 1908
Clayton Barney Vogel
1882 - 1964
Daniel Carmick
1772 - 1816
George Landenberger
1879 - 1936
Norwood Penrose Hallowell
1839 - 1914
Frederick Moosbrugger
1900 - 1974
John Bernadou
1858 - 1908
Lloyd M. Mustin
1911 - 1999
Isaac J. Wistar
1827 - 1905
James St. Clair Morton
1829 - 1864
Charles Stockton
1845 - 1924
Edward Cutbush
1772 - 1843
Aaron Ward (sailor)
1851 - 1918
Edward Needles Hallowell
1836 - 1871
Henry Brainerd McClellan
1840 - 1904
Caspar F. Goodrich
1847 - 1925
Edwin North McClellan
1881 - 1971
Henry C. Mustin (1874–1923)
1854 - 1923
Kidder Breese
1831 - 1881
William McCandless
1834 - 1884
Alfred Wilkinson Johnson
1876 - 1963
T.A.M. Craven
1893 - 1972
Allan McLane
1746 - 1829
Walter Atlee Edwards
1886 - 1928
John Kennedy Barton
1853 - 1921
Thomas H. Neill
1826 - 1885
Francis E. Patterson
1821 - 1862
George R. Christmas
Born 1940
William R. Rush
1857 - 1940
John Cummings Howell
1819 - 1892
William Carleton Watts
1880 - 1956
James L. Lardner
1802 - 1881
Charles D. Griffin
1906 - 1996
Louis Robertshaw
1912 - 2003
Lance W. Lord
Born 1946
William Mervine
1791 - 1868
Charles Stewart McCauley
1793 - 1869
Martin R. Steele
-
Nanette M. DeRenzi
-
Forrester L. Taylor
1833 - 1907
James A. Zimble
1933 - 2011
Andrew Boyd Cummings
1830 - 1863
Conrad C. Lautenbacher
Born 1942
Edward Gelsthorpe
1921 - 2009
Raymond D. Tarbuck
1897 - 1986
Charles J. Leidig
Born 1956
Carol A. DiBattiste
Born 1951
William H. Ginn Jr.
1928 - 2010
Cecil Clay
1842 - 1903
Edgar R. Bassett
1914 - 1942
Randolph Zane
1887 - 1918
J. Hinckley Clark
1835 - 1889
Sylvanus William Godon
1809 - 1879
James R. Caldwell
1778 - 1804
Charles James Barclay (U.S. Navy officer)
Born 1843
John Russell Young Blakely
1872 - 1942
William Whelan (surgeon)
1808 - 1865
Charles E. Colahan
1849 - 1904
Allan C. Kelton
1846 - 1928
Martin H. Ray Jr.
1913 - 1942