- 1786 - Winfield Scott, U.S. general (d. 1866)
- 1831 - James Clerk Maxwell, (pictured) Scottish physicist (d. 1879)
- 1865 - William Butler Yeats, Irish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1939)
- 1888 - Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet (d. 1935)
- 1893 - Dorothy L. Sayers, English author (d. 1957)
- 1928 - John Forbes Nash, American mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics (d. 2015)
- 1943 - Malcolm McDowell, English actor
- 1953 - Tim Allen, American comedian and actor
- 1970 - Rivers Cuomo, American singer and musician (Weezer)
- 1986 - Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, American actresses