- May 7 Johan Peter Cronhamm, Swedish composer, born in Östra Karup, Skåne, Sweden (d. 1875)
- May 8 Joseph Napoleon Ney, French politician, born in Paris (d. 1857)
- May 12 Justus von Liebig, German agricultural and biological chemist who is considered the founder of organic chemistry, born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany (d. 1873)
- May 17 Robert Smith Surtees, British novelist (Jorrocks’s Jaunts and Jollities), born in The Riding, England (d. 1864)
- May 24 Alexander von Nordmann, Finnish zoologist, born in Kotka, Finland (d. 1866)
- May 24 Charles Lucien Bonaparte, French prince of Canino and Musignano, born in Paris (d. 1857)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)
May 25 American essayist and philosopher (Concord Hymn), born in Boston, Massachusetts
