Saint Nicholas
270 Saint Nicholas [Nikolaos of Myra], Greek Bishop who became the model for Santa Claus, born in Patara, Asia Minor (d. 343) traditional date of birth
Saint Nicholas
- 938 Romanos II, Byzantine emperor (d. 963)
- 1275 Margaret Plantagenet, English princess (d. 1318)
- 1455 Pietro Accolti, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1532)
- 1493 Anne Pierre Adrien duke of Montmorency, marshal of France
- 1591 Alexandre de Rhodes, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1660)
- 1638 Shunzhi Emperor of China (1644-1661) Third Qing Emperor, born in Shengjing (d. 1661)
- 1666 George Bähr, German architect (Frauenkirche, Dresden) (d. 1738)
- 1678 Dominique Marie Valet, French RC/old-catholic bishop
- 1713 Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer who mapped the stars of the Southern Hemisphere, born in Rumigny, France (d. 1762)
- 1733 Johann Zoffany, German painter, baptized
- 1738 Cesare Beccaria, Italian criminologist and politician, born in Milan (d. 1794)
Andrew Jackson
1767 Andrew Jackson, General and 7th US President (1829-37), born in Waxhaws in the border area between North and South Carolina (d. 1845)
Andrew Jackson
William Lamb
1779 William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (Whig 1834, 1835-41), born in London (d. 1848)
William Lamb
- 1790 Ludwig Immanuel Magnus, German mathematician (d. 1861)
- 1791 Charles Knight, English publisher (The Penny Cyclopaedia), born in Windsor, England (d. 1873)
- 1801 Coenraad J van Houten, Dutch cocoa manufacturer
- 1809 Joseph Jenkins Roberts, 1st President of Liberia
- 1809 Karl Josef von Hefele, German theologian (d. 1893)
- 1810 Aernout Drost, Dutch historical novelist (Hermingard van de Eikenterpen), born in Amsterdam, Kingdom of Holland (d. 1834)
- 1811 Robert Allen, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in West Point, Ohio (d. 1886)
- 1813 John Snow, English epidemiologist (d. 1858)
- 1818 Mariano Álvarez, Filipino general (d. 1924)
- 1821 William Milligan, Scottish theologian (d. 1892)
- 1821 Eduard Heine, German mathematician (d. 1881)
- 1821 Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian scientist (d. 1895)
- 1824 Branko Radicevic, Serbian poet (1st Serbian Uprising)
- 1824 Jules Chevalier, French Roman Catholic priest (Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart), born in Richelieu, Touraine, France (d. 1907)
- 1830 Paul von Heyse, German writer (Nobel 1910)
- 1830 Élisée Reclus, French geographer (d. 1905)
- 1831 Edward Aylesworth Perry, Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
- 1831 Daniel Comboni, Italian missionary (d. 1881)
- 1835 John Henrie Kagi, American abolitionist (d. 1859)
- 1838 Alice Cunningham Fletcher, ethnologist (Stranger in Her Native Land)
- 1852 Augusta, Lady Gregory, Irish playwright, poet and patron of Yates, born in Roxborough, County Galway
- 1854 Emil Adolf von Behring, German physician; Nobel laureate (d. 1917)
- 1858 Liberty Hyde Bailey, US botanist (Plantbreeding)
- 1860 Waldemar Haffkine, Ukrainian bacteriologist (1st to develop and use vaccines against cholera and bubonic plague), born in Odessa, Russian Empire (d. 1930)
- 1866 Matthew Charlton, Australian politician (d. 1948)
- 1866 Johan Vaaler, Norwegian inventor (d. 1910)
- 1867 Lionel Pigot Johnson, British poet and critic (Ireland & Other Poems), born in Broadstairs, Kent (d. 1902)
- 1868 Grace Chisholm Young, English mathematician (d. 1944)
- 1869 Stanisław Wojciechowski, President of Poland (d. 1953)
- 1873 Lee Shubert, American theatre producer (theatres in NY & LA named after him), born in Lithuania (d. 1953) birth date disputed
- 1874 Harold L Ickes, social activist, New Deal politician
- 1874 Eugène Fiset, Lieutenant Governor of Quebec (d. 1951)
- 1878 Rezā Shāh Pahlavi [Rezā Khan], Shah of Iran (1925-41), born in Alasht, Savad Kooh, Mazandaran, Persia (d. 1944)
- 1879 Gerrit J Heering, Dutch theologist (Fall of Christianity)
- 1887 Marjorie Merriweather Post, American socialite and businesswoman (d. 1973)
- 1892 James Basevi Ord, US army officer (d. 1938)
- 1900 Gilberto Freye, Brazilian sociologist/writer
- 1905 Berthold Schenck von Stauffenberg, German aristocrat who attempted to assassinate Hitler, born in Stuttgart, Germany (d. 1944)
- 1910 An Rutgers van der Loeff-Basenau, children book writer (Skating Race)
- 1912 Duncan Stuart Wilson-MacDonald, fighter pilot
- 1912 Louis Paul Boon, Flemish writer (Kapellekensbaan)
- 1914 Aniello Dellacroce, American gangster (d. 1985)
- 1916 Geert Lubberhuizen, publisher (Busy Bee)
- 1916 Fadil Hoxha, Yugoslav politician (d. 2001)
- 1918 Janet Leach, potter, born in Grand Saline, Texas (d. 1997)
- 1918 Richard Ellmann, American literary scholar and biographer (Oscar Wilde), born in Highland Park, Michigan (d. 1987)
- 1920 Lawrence Sanders, American novelist (d. 1998)
- 1920 E. Donnall Thomas, American physician, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
- 1920 Sid Hartman, American sports journalist (Minneapolis Star Tribune; WCCO 830 AM), born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (d. 2020)
- 1923 Laurence A Tisch, American CEO (Loews Corp), born in NYC, New York
- 1924 Yuri Bondarev, Russian writer (Silence), born in Orsk
- 1925 Bert Bolin, Swedish meteorologist
- 1926 Tim Valentine, American politician (Rep-D-NC, 1983-95), born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina (d. 2015)
- 1927 Philip Vincent Belloc Jebb, architect
- 1930 Zhores Alferov, Soviet-Russian physicist (2000 Nobel Prize in Physics), born in Vitebsk, Soviet Union (d. 2019)
- 1932 Alan Bean, American Naval captain and astronaut (Ap 12, Skylab 3, 4th to walk on the moon), born in Wheeler, Texas (2018)
- 1932 David Alliance, Iran/British textile factory/multi-millionaire
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
1933 Ruth Bader Ginsburg, American jurist and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1993-2020), born in Brooklyn, New York (d. 2020)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg
- 1934 Kanshi Ram, Indian dalit leader
- 1935 Jimmy Lee Swaggart, evangelist
- 1936 Donald K Sundquist, (Rep-R-Tennessee, 1983- )
- 1936 David Andrews, Irish politician
- 1937 Valentin Rasputin, Russian writer (To Live and Remember), born in Atalanka, Soviet Union (d. 2015)
- 1939 Robert Nye, British novelist and poet (Facts of Life & other fiction), born in London (d. 2016)
- 1939 Jack Whyte, Scottish-Canadian author
- 1940 Frank Dobson, British politician
- 1940 Margo Coleman, American advice columnist
- 1943 David Cronenberg, director (Shivers, Fly, Brood), born in Toronto, Ontario
- 1945 Mark J Green, American lawyer/author (Closed Enterprise System), born in Brooklyn, New York
- 1945 A. K. Faezul Huq, Bengali lawyer and politician (d. 2007)
- 1946 Masaharu Satō, Japanese seiyū
- 1947 Larisa Grigoriyevna Pozharskaya, Russian cosmonaut
- 1948 Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003)
- 1948 Kate Bornstein, American author
- 1952 Howard Koh, American state government official
- 1953 Richard Bruton, Irish politician
- 1959 Lisa Holton, American writer
- 1960 Phil Walsh, Australian Rules Football wing, coach (murdered by son), born in Hamilton, Victoria (d. 2015)
- 1967 Naoko Takeuchi, Japanese artist
- 1968 Terje Riis-Johansen, Norwegian politician
- 1969 Rona Ambrose, Canadian politician
- 1976 Jennifer 8. Lee, American journalist
- 1976 Katherine Brooks, American television director
- 1976 Jose Sanchez Zolliker, Mexican writer
- 1978 Takeru Kobayashi, Japanese competitive eater
- 1985 F.V.A. Morriello, Canadian author