51.9225° N, 4.4793° E
ROTTERDAM
Most Famous People Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands
- Notable people
- 1,222
- Peak decade
- 1980s
- Median birth year
- 1938
- Most distinctive
- Swimmer 5.9×
The port-city blend: a theologian index of 2.7× that starts with Erasmus and never quite stops, a mathematician footprint in the Dijkstra tradition, and a painter lineage running from Willem de Kooning back through four centuries of Dutch light. The swimmer, rower, and boxer over-indexes are a different Rotterdam entirely — the concrete port city rebuilt after the 1940 Blitz, not the medieval town that didn't survive it.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Rotterdam during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1980s with 132 notable births.
What Rotterdam Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Football is Rotterdam's biggest profession — 24% of all notables (290).
Rotterdam over-indexes on swimmer — 5.9× the global rate.
Rotterdam under-produces politician — only 0.6× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Rotterdam's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Art & Design
- Politics & Law
- Science
- Music
- Writing
- Other
- Filtered to 1850s Clear ×
Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff
1852 - 1911
George Hendrik Breitner
1857 - 1923
Ambrosius Hubrecht
1853 - 1915
Jakob Smits
1855 - 1928
Hendrik Pieter Nicolaas Muller
1859 - 1941
Jean Réville
1854 - 1908
Johannes François Snelleman
1852 - 1938
Bramine Hubrecht
1855 - 1913
Johannes Franciscus Spohler
1853 - 1923
Hendrik Barend Greven
1850 - 1933
Barend Sijmons
1853 - 1935
Albertus Paulus Hermanus Hotz
1855 - 1930
Paul von Woringen
1859 - 1928
Leo Stracké
1851 - 1923
Willem Nolen
1854 - 1939