- May 1 Conrad Weiss, German writer and poet (Tantum dic verbo) (d. 1940)
- May 6 Edmund Ironside, 1st Baron Ironside, British fieldmarshal, born in Edinburgh, Scotland (d. 1959)
- May 12 Lincoln Ellsworth, American polar explorer, led 1st transarctic, transantarctic flights, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1951)
- May 14 Wilhelm List, German field marshal (d. 1971)
- May 15 Otto Dibelius, German theologist/bishop (Confessional Church)
- May 16 Julian Tannen, NY, comedian (Great Moment)
- May 17 Pascual de Rogatis, Argentine composer (Huemac; Estampas Argentinas), born in Teora, Italy (d. 1980)
- May 19 Allard R Hulshoff, architect of Amsterdam (1924)
- May 21 Pablo Luna, Spanish composer (De España vengo), born in Alhama de Aragón, Spain (d. 1942)
- May 21 Tudor Arghezi, Romanian writer (d. 1967)
- May 25 Jean Alexandre Barré, French neurologist who helped identify the Guillain-Barré-Strohl syndrome, born in Nantes, France (d. 1967)
- May 29 Oswald Spengler, German historian and philosopher (Decline of West), born in Blankenburg, Duchy of Brunswick, German Empire (d. 1936)