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: Rower Clear ×
John B. Kelly Sr.
1889 - 1960
Anita DeFrantz
Born 1952
John B. Kelly Jr.
1927 - 1985
Paul Costello
1894 - 1986
John Exley
1867 - 1938
John Geiger
1877 - 1956
James Juvenal
1874 - 1942
Michael Gleason
1876 - 1923
Edward Marsh (rower)
1874 - 1932
Charles Armstrong (rower)
1881 - 1952
Joseph Dempsey
1875 - 1942
Frank Shakespeare (rower)
Born 1930
Harry Lott
1880 - 1949
James Flanagan (rower)
1884 - 1937
Harry DeBaecke
1879 - 1961
Glenn Ochal
Born 1986
Edwin Hedley
1864 - 1947
Charles Kieffer
1910 - 1975
Joseph Schauers
1909 - 1987
William Miller (rower)
1905 - 1985
Robert Espeseth
Born 1953
Charles McIlvaine (rower)
1903 - 1975
Franz Federschmidt
1894 - 1956
Erich Federschmidt
1895 - 1962
Robert Perew
1923 - 1999
Mark Gerban
Born 1979
Ed Mitchell (rower)
1901 - 1970
Charles Karle
1898 - 1946
Ernest Bayer
1904 - 1997
George Healis
1906 - 1990
Garrett Miller
Born 1977
John Schmitt (rower)
1901 - 1991
Thomas Welsh (rower)
Born 1977
Paul McDowell (rower)
1905 - 1962
Joe Dougherty (rower)
1901 - 1981
Bruce Beall
Born 1951
Diane Braceland
Born 1950
Edward Marshall (rower)
Born 1908
James Moroney
Born 1953
Joseph Toland
1928 - 2002
Augustus Goetz
1904 - 1976
Edgar Johnson
1905 - 1977
Charles Drueding
1913 - 1970
Adam Holland
Born 1971
Jonathan Watling
Born 1976
Bill Dugan (rower)
1913 - 1996
George Dahm
1916 - 1980
Francis English
1910 - 1984
Vincent Deeney
1915 - 1999
Tom Curran (rower)
1910 - 1990
John Houser (rower)
1909 - 1991
John McCosker (rower)
1910 - 1965
John McIntyre (American rower)
Born 1928
George Mattson (rower)
1908 - 1997
Harry Sharkey
1916 - 2002
Tony Martin (rower)
1947 - 2005
Ernestine Bayer
1909 - 2006