- Feb 2 Yulian Vasilievich Sokhotski, Russian mathematician (d. 1927)
- Feb 3 Sidney Clopton Lanier, American composer/poet (Hall of Fame)
- Feb 4 Georg Brandes [Morris Cohen], Danish literary historian and critic
- Feb 4 Vasili O Klyutshevski, Russian historian
- Feb 7 Alexandre Ribot, French statesman (d. 1923)
- Feb 13 Ted Pooley, English cricket wicket-keeper (1st class records: 8 stumpings in a match 1878; 12 dismissals in a match 1868), born in Chepstow, England (d. 1907)
- Feb 22 Carl Rosa, founder (Rosa opera company), born in Hamburg, Germany
- Feb 22 Leon Vanderkindere, Belgian historian/mayor (Ukkel)
- Feb 23 Karl Robert Eduard von Hartmann, German philosopher (d. 1906)
- Feb 24 Arrigo Boito, Itlaian opera composer (Mefistofele), and librettist (Verdi's "Falstaff"; mention Ponchielli's "La Gioconda"), born in Padua, Italy (d. 1918)
- Feb 25 Karl May, German writer (Old Shatterhand/Winnetou)
- Feb 26 Camille Flammarion, French astronomer, Mars researcher and popularizer of astronomy, born in Montigny-le-Roi, Haute-Marne, France (d. 1925)