Famous birthdays by year
Famous People Born in 1886
Born in 1886? Meet the well-known people who share your birth year, from the biggest names to the ones you might not expect, month by month.
Turning 140 in 2026 · Chinese zodiac: Year of the Dog
The 1880s
The most famous people born in 188624
1886–1973David Ben-Gurion
Zionist leader who proclaimed the State of Israel in 1948 and became its first prime minister
Photo: Fritz Cohen · Public domain
1886–1969Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
Modernist architect who popularised the phrase less is more
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
1886–1957Diego Rivera
Mexican muralist known for his large-scale and politically charged frescoes
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
1886–1941Alfonso XIII
King of Spain who reigned from the day of his birth
Photo: Kaulak · Public domain
1886–1978Manne Siegbahn
Nobel Prize-winning physicist known for his research into X-ray spectroscopy
Photo: Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1924 · Public domain
1886–1968Karl Barth
Highly influential Swiss Reformed theologian of the twentieth century
Photo: Hans Lachmann · CC BY-SA 3.0 de
1886–1963Robert Schuman
French statesman regarded as a founding father of the European Union
Photo: European Commission · CC BY 4.0
1886–1977Archibald Hill
Nobel Prize-winning physiologist and pioneer of biophysics and operations research
Photo: Photographer unknown. Subject (Hill) deceased. This photo is under copyright by The Nobel Foundation, which is based in · Public domain
Born in 1886, month by month
- February
- Frank Lloyd (February 2) · Oscar-winning director known for Mutiny on the Bounty
- Béla Kun (February 20) · Leader of the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919
- March
- Oskar Kokoschka (March 1) · Expressionist painter famous for his psychological portraits
- Edward Calvin Kendall (March 8) · Nobel Prize-winning biochemist who discovered the hormone cortisone
- Sergei Kirov (March 15) · Soviet politician and Bolshevik leader whose assassination sparked the Great Purge
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (March 27) · Modernist architect who popularised the phrase less is more
- April
- Ernst Thälmann (April 16) · Leader of the Communist Party of Germany during the Weimar Republic
- May
- Gottfried Benn (May 2) · Prominent German expressionist poet and essayist
- Karl Barth (May 10) · Highly influential Swiss Reformed theologian of the twentieth century
- Alfonso XIII (May 17) · King of Spain who reigned from the day of his birth
- June
- Robert Schuman (June 29) · French statesman regarded as a founding father of the European Union
- July
- Willem Drees (July 5) · Prime Minister who oversaw the post-war reconstruction of the Netherlands
- September
- Robert Robinson (September 13) · Nobel Prize-winning chemist who researched plant pigments and alkaloids
- Archibald Hill (September 26) · Nobel Prize-winning physiologist and pioneer of biophysics and operations research
- October
- Alain-Fournier (October 3) · French author best known for the classic novel Le Grand Meaulnes
- Sergo Ordzhonikidze (October 12) · Leading Bolshevik politician and associate of Joseph Stalin
- David Ben-Gurion (October 16) · Zionist leader who proclaimed the State of Israel in 1948 and became its first prime minister
- November
- René Guénon (November 15) · French intellectual and major figure in Traditionalist philosophy
- Karl von Frisch (November 20) · Nobel Prize-winning biologist who decoded the language of bees
- December
- Zhu De (December 1) · Chinese general and co-founder of the People's Liberation Army
- Manne Siegbahn (December 3) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist known for his research into X-ray spectroscopy
- Diego Rivera (December 8) · Mexican muralist known for his large-scale and politically charged frescoes
- Victor McLaglen (December 10) · Oscar-winning actor known for his roles in John Ford films
- David Alfaro Siqueiros (December 29) · Mexican social realist painter famous for large-scale murals