38.8951° N, 77.0368° W
WASHINGTON
Most Famous People Born in Washington, United States
- Notable people
- 3,084
- Peak decade
- 1940s
- Median birth year
- 1949
- Most distinctive
- Basket 4.3×
A federal city whose distinctive shelves are exactly what you'd expect — military officers, lawyers, journalists, and an unusually thick novelist column — alongside one of the country's deepest basketball and baseball benches. But Washington is also a Black cultural capital, and the most famous names born here are Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, and Samuel L. Jackson, not politicians. The 19th-century tail is thinner than you'd expect; the city only really filled up after the New Deal.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Washington during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 428 notable births.
What Washington Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Actor is Washington's biggest profession — 8% of all notables (258).
Washington over-indexes on basket — 4.3× the global rate.
Washington under-produces painter — only 0.6× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Washington's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Writing
- Music
- Science
- Other
- Filtered to 1890s Clear ×
Duke Ellington
1899 - 1974
J. Edgar Hoover
1895 - 1972
Alan Hale Sr.
1892 - 1950
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
1896 - 1953
Anthony McAuliffe
1898 - 1975
Ina Claire
1893 - 1985
Jean Toomer
1894 - 1967
Quentin Roosevelt
1897 - 1918
Florence Mills
1896 - 1927
Andy Razaf
1895 - 1973
Isabel Briggs Myers
1897 - 1980
Bert Roach
1891 - 1971
Monta Bell
1891 - 1958
Wheeler Oakman
1890 - 1949
Ted Koehler
1894 - 1973
Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd
1891 - 1948
Courtney Whitney
1897 - 1969
Joseph L. Walsh
1895 - 1973
Pat Flaherty (actor)
1897 - 1970
Euphemia Haynes
1890 - 1980
Eric Johnston
1896 - 1963
Priscilla Bonner
1899 - 1996
Rayford Logan
1897 - 1982
Eslanda Goode Robeson
1895 - 1965
Rudolph Fisher
1897 - 1934
Turner Layton
1894 - 1978
Samuel Friedel
1898 - 1979
Raymond Corbett Shannon
1894 - 1945
Oscar C. Badger II
1890 - 1958
May Miller
1899 - 1995
Virgil Jacomini
1899 - 1984
Archibald Roosevelt
1894 - 1979
Joseph Rider Farrington
1897 - 1954
Cassin Young
1894 - 1942
Frances Noyes Hart
1890 - 1943
Volga Hayworth
1895 - 1945
Esther Cleveland
1893 - 1980
Lillian Evanti
1890 - 1967
Charles Hamilton Houston
1895 - 1950
Frances Carpenter
1890 - 1972
Robert C. Macon
1890 - 1980
Charlotte Winters
1897 - 2007
Thomas G. W. Settle
1895 - 1980
Watson Davis
1896 - 1967
John Paul Jones (athlete)
1890 - 1970
Walter Maximillian Bastian
1891 - 1975
Marguerite Williams
1895 - 1991
Eva Beatrice Dykes
1893 - 1986
Biff Jones
1895 - 1980
St. Clair Streett
1893 - 1970
Joe Engel
1893 - 1969
Helen Dyer
1895 - 1998
Russell Harrison Varian
1898 - 1959
Earl Kerkam
1891 - 1965
Helen Marie Black
1896 - 1988
Walter Beall
1899 - 1959
Henry I. Hodes
1899 - 1962
Lu Blue
1897 - 1958
Julian Howell Miller
1890 - 1961
Inez Hogan
1895 - 1973
Henry Berliner
1895 - 1970
Samuel L. Howard
1891 - 1960
Jerome Aloysius Daugherty Sebastian
1895 - 1960
Robert C. Cook
1898 - 1991
E. Brooke Lee
1892 - 1984
Reginald Geare
1890 - 1927
Edwin Atherton
1896 - 1944
Bolitha James Laws
1891 - 1958
Alphonse DeCarre
1892 - 1977
Edward T. Folliard
1899 - 1976
E. Blackburn Moore
1897 - 1980
Rudolph Cameron
1894 - 1958
Brooke Brewer
1894 - 1970
Julian E. Raymond
1897 - 1975
Gorman DeFreest Larner
1897 - 1984
Joseph Charles McGarraghy
1897 - 1975
Chick Tolson
1895 - 1965
Samuel N. Moore
1891 - 1942
Mickey Keliher
1890 - 1930
Joe Giebel
1891 - 1981
Charlie Becker (baseball)
1890 - 1928
Geary Eppley
1895 - 1978
Robert Francis Anthony Studds
1896 - 1962
William Kelly Harrison Jr.
1895 - 1987
Richmond Bowling Keech
1896 - 1986
Mike Cantwell
1894 - 1953
Gil Gallagher
1896 - 1957
Joseph Younger
1892 - 1932
Nip Winters
1899 - 1971
Ralph Hospital
1891 - 1972
David Andrew Pine
1891 - 1970
Mary G. Evans
1891 - 1966
Leon Shore
1892 - 1942
Violet Hill Whyte
1897 - 1980
Scrip Lee
1899 - 1974
Billy Martin (shortstop)
1894 - 1949
Leonard Dyer
1897 - 1955
Frank Edmund Beatty Jr.
1894 - 1976
Joe Fitzgerald (baseball)
1897 - 1967
Eleanor Parke Custis (artist)
1897 - 1983
Ernest Gatewood
1890 - 1949
Denny Despert
1891 - 1931