- Jan 2 Slava Raskaj, Croatian painter (d. 1906)
- Jan 4 Gibson Gowland, British film actor (Greed, Blind Husbands, The Phantom of the Opera), born in Spennymoor, Durham, England (d. 1951)
- Jan 7 Johan Buziau, Dutch cabaret performer, and clown (1 great dog), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1958)
- Jan 10 Frederick Gardner Cottrell, American inventor (electrostatic precipitator), born in Oakland, California (d. 1948)
- Jan 12 Frank J. Corr, American politician (d. 1934)
- Jan 15 Lewis Terman, American psychologist (developed Stanford-Binet IQ test), born in Johnson County, Indiana (d. 1956)
- Jan 17 Hans Jelmoli, Swiss pianist and composer, born in Zurich (d. 1936)
- Jan 17 May Gibbs, Australian children's author (d. 1969)
- Jan 18 Samuel Zemurray 'Sam the Banana Man', American businessman (United Fruit Company, born in Kishinev, Bessarabia (d. 1961)
- Jan 20 Ruth St. Denis, ballerina (Dances of the 5 Senses), born in Newark, New Jersey (d. 1968)
- Jan 22 Hjalmar Schacht, German economist and banker (President of German Reichsbank, co-founded German Democratic Party), born in Tingleff, Prussia, German Empire (d. 1970)
- Jan 26 Kees van Dongen, Dutch-French painter (Fauves style), born in Rotterdam Netherlands (d. 1968)
- Jan 29 Georges Catroux, French general (d. 1969)
- Jan 31 Max Ettlinger, German philosopher, born in Frankfurt, Germany (d. 1929)