- 1242 Beatrice of England, Duchess of Brittanny, daughter of Henry III of England, born in Bordeaux, France (d. 1275)
- 1328 William Montacute, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, English military leader, born in Donyatt, Somerset, England (d. 1397)
- 1373 Johanna II, Queen of Naples (1414-35), born in Zadar, Dalmatia (d. 1435)
- 1560 Wilhelm Fabry, German surgeon (Father of German surgery), born in Hilden, Germany (d. 1634)
- 1612 John Albert Vasa, Polish bishop, born in Warsaw, Poland (d. 1634)
- 1715 Joseph-François Foulon, French politician, born in Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, France (d. 1789)
- 1726 Thomas Pennant, Welsh naturalist, born in Downing, Wales (d. 1798)
- 1755 Princess Natalia Alexeievna of Russia, born in Prenzlau, Brandenburg, Prussia (d. 1776)
- 1813 William High Keim, American politician and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Reading, Pennsylvania (d. 1862)
- 1814 Gabriel Auguste Daubrée, French geologist, born in Metz, France (d. 1896)
- 1823 James Dunwoody Bulloch, Confederacy's chief foreign agent in Great Britain during the American Civil War, born in Savannah, Georgia (d. 1901)
- 1852 Antoni Gaudí, Spanish architect, born in Reus, Catalonia, Spain (d. 1926)
- 1858 Georges Courteline [Moineau], French playwright, born in Tours, France (d. 1929)
- 1863 Émile Francqui, Belgian soldier and diplomat, born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1935)
- 1864 Walther Hermann Nernst, Prussian physicist and chemist (Nobel 1920), born in Briesen, West Prussia (d. 1941)
- 1884 Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler, German-French art dealer and publisher, born in Mannheim, Germany (d. 1979)
- 1886 Henry "Hap" Arnold, American commanding general, US Army Air Force (WWII), born in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania (d. 1950)
- 1887 George Abbott, American producer (Damn Yankees, Pajama Game), born in Forestville, New York (d. 1995)
- 1889 Margriet Baers, Flemish philosopher and social worker, born in Antwerp, Belgium (d. 1922)
- 1890 Hans Marchwitza, German writer and communist, born in Scharley, Upper Silesia (d. 1965)
- 1894 Hermann Oberth, German physicist (founded modern astronautics), born in Hermannstadt, Austria-Hungary (d. 1989)
- 1898 Kay [Katherine Linn] Sage, American painter and poet, born in Albany, New York (d. 1963)
- 1900 Louis Mountbatten, of Burma, British naval officer and statesman, last Viceroy of India (1947), born in Windsor, England (d. 1979)
- 1902 Prince Yasuhito Chichibu, brother of Emperor Showa, born in Tokyo, Japan (d. 1953)
George Orwell
1903 George Orwell [Eric Arthur Blair], Bihar, British writer (Animal Farm, 1984), born in Motihari, British India (d. 1950)
George Orwell
- 1904 Jan van Axel [Johannes P. Kraakman], Dutch director (Overschotje)
- 1907 J. Hans D. Jensen, German physicist (atomic nucleus-Nobel 1963), born in Hamburg, Germany (d. 1973)
- 1908 Willard Van Orman Quine, American philosopher and logician in the analytic tradition, born in Boston, Massachusetts (d. 2000)
- 1911 William H. Stein, American biochemist (Nobel 1972), born in New York (d. 1980)
- 1912 Virginia Lacy Jones, American librarian and presidential advisor, born in Cincinnati, Ohio (d. 1984)
- 1912 William T. Cahill, American politician, 46th Governor of New Jersey (1970-74), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1996)
- 1916 Philip Toynbee, British journalist and writer (Savage Days, Barricade), born in Oxford, England (d. 1981)
- 1923 Dorothy Gilman, American mystery writer, born in New Brunswick, New Jersey (d. 2012)
- 1923 Sam Francis, American painter, born in San Mateo, California (d. 1994)
- 1923 Tony Parker, British oral historian, born in Stockport, Cheshire (d. 1996)
- 1923 Nicholas Mosley, British novelist, biographer and son of Oswald Mosley, born in London (d. 2017)
- 1925 Robert Venturi, American architect (Levittown NY, Las Vegas), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1926 Ingeborg Bachmann, Austrian author and poet (Gott von Manhattan), born in Klagenfurt, Austria (d. 1973)
- 1928 Peyo [Pierre Culliford], Belgian cartoonist (The Smurfs, Johan et Pirlouit), born in Brussels, Belgium (d. 1992)
- 1928 Alexei Abrikosov, Russian-born American physicist (Nobel Prize 2003), born in Moscow (d. 2017)
- 1929 Eric Carle, American designer, illustrator and author of children's books (The Very Hungry Caterpillar), born in Syracuse, New York
- 1930 Hugo Gabriel Gryn, British Reform rabbi, born in Berehovo, Czechoslovakia (d. 1996)
- 1931 V.P. [Vishwanath Pratap] Singh, Indian politician, 7th Prime Minister of India (1989-90), born in Allahabad, British India (d. 2008)
- 1932 Peter Blake, British artist, born in Dartford, Kent, England
- 1933 Michelangelo Pistoletto, Italian artist (glass painter), born in Biella, Italy
- 1933 James Meredith, American civil rights activist (1st African-American at the University of Mississippi), born in Kosciusko, Mississippi
- 1933 Álvaro Siza Vieira, Portuguese architect, born in Matosinhos, Portugal
- 1935 Wynand Breytenbach, South African soldier and politician, Deputy Minister of Defense (1986-94), born in Orange Free State, South Africa (d. 2002)
- 1936 Paul Nowee, Dutch writer of children's and youth books. (Eagle's Eye), born in The Hague, Netherlands (d. 1993)
- 1936 B. J. Habibie, 3rd President of Indonesia (1998-99), born in Parepare, South Sulawesi, Dutch East Indies
- 1937 Marabel Morgan, American author (The Total Woman), born in Crestline, Ohio
- 1940 A. J. Quinnell [Philip Nicholson], English writer (Man on Fire), born in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England (d. 2005)
- 1942 Patrick Michael Mitchell, one of FBI's most wanted, born in Ottawa, Ontario
- 1942 Michel Tremblay, Canadian novelist and playwright (Les Belles-Sœurs), born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- 1943 Gerrit "Ger" Zijlstra, Dutch sculptor, born in Utrecht, Netherlands
- 1943 Bill Moggridge [William], British designer (1st laptop computer), born in London, England (d. 2012)
- 1946 Roméo Dallaire, Canadian senator and humanitarian, born in Denekamp, Netherlands
- 1950 Leonid Georiyevich Ivanov, Russian cosmonaut (Soyuz 33), born in Safonovo, Russia (d. 1980)
- 1956 Boris Trajkovski, 2nd President of the Republic of Macedonia, born in Monospitovo, Strumica, SR Macedonia, Yugoslavia (d. 2004)
- 1956 Bongiwe (Bongi) Dhlomo-Mautloa, South African artist, born in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
- 1963 Yann Martel, Spanish-Canadian author (Life of Pi), born in Salamanca, Spain
- 1964 Greg Raymer, American professional poker player, born in Minot, North Dakota
- 1968 Oleg Taktarov, Russian martial artist, born in Arzamas-16, Gorky Oblast, Russian SFSR
- 1970 Ariel Gore, American journalist and author, born in Carmel, California
- 1971 Santiago de Tezanos, Uruguayan architect, born in Montevideo, Uruguay