Famous birthdays by year
Famous People Born in 1888
Born in 1888? 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 138 in 2026 · Chinese zodiac: Year of the Rat
The 1880s
The most famous people born in 188836
1888–1965T. S. Eliot
American-born British poet of The Waste Land and Four Quartets, whose cat poems inspired the musical Cats, and a Nobel laureate
Photo: Thomas Stearns Eliot with his sister and his cousin by Lady Ottoline Morrell.jpg : Lady Ottoline Morrell (1873–1938) der · Public domain
1888–1970Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman
Indian physicist who discovered the Raman effect in light scattering and became Asia's first Nobel laureate in science
Photo: Nobel Foundation · Public domain
1888–1953Eugene O'Neill
American playwright of Long Day's Journey into Night and The Iceman Cometh, winner of four Pulitzers and the Nobel Prize
Photo: Nobel Foundation · Public domain
1888–1935Fernando Pessoa
Portuguese poet who wrote under dozens of invented personas called heteronyms, author of The Book of Disquiet
Photo: S.A. e Maria José de Lencastre · Public domain
1888–1955Dale Carnegie
Author of the influential self-help book How to Win Friends and Influence People
Photo: Unknown author · Public domain
1888–1935T. E. Lawrence
British officer and writer known as Lawrence of Arabia
Photo: Harris & Ewing · Public domain
1888–1942José Raúl Capablanca
Cuban chess world champion regarded as one of the greatest players
Photo: Harris & Ewing, photographer · Public domain
1888–1969Otto Stern
Nobel Prize-winning physicist who developed the molecular beam method
Photo: Nobelprize.org · Public domain
Born in 1888, month by month
- February
- Otto Stern (February 17) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist who developed the molecular beam method
- Georges Bernanos (February 20) · French novelist known for Diary of a Country Priest
- John Foster Dulles (February 25) · American diplomat and Secretary of State during the Cold War
- March
- Anton Makarenko (March 13) · Influential Soviet educator and author of The Pedagogical Poem
- May
- Irving Berlin (May 11) · Composer of many popular songs in the Great American Songbook
- Jim Thorpe (May 28) · Native American athlete and multi-sport Olympic gold medallist
- June
- Fernando Pessoa (June 13) · Portuguese poet who wrote under dozens of invented personas called heteronyms, author of The Book of Disquiet
- Alexander Friedmann (June 16) · Physicist who developed the theory of the expanding universe
- Heinz Guderian (June 17) · German general who developed modern tank warfare and blitzkrieg tactics
- July
- Herbert Spencer Gasser (July 5) · American scientist and Nobel laureate who researched nerve impulses
- Giorgio de Chirico (July 10) · Artist who founded the influential Metaphysical school of painting
- Carl Schmitt (July 11) · German jurist and political theorist known for his critiques of liberalism
- Frits Zernike (July 16) · Nobel Prize-winning physicist who invented the phase-contrast microscope
- Selman Abraham Waksman (July 22) · Nobel Prize-winning microbiologist who discovered the antibiotic streptomycin
- Raymond Chandler (July 23) · Crime novelist who created the private detective Philip Marlowe
- August
- John Logie Baird (August 13) · Scottish inventor who gave the first public demonstration of television
- T. E. Lawrence (August 16) · British officer and writer known as Lawrence of Arabia
- September
- Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (September 5) · Philosopher and the second President of India
- Maurice Chevalier (September 12) · French entertainer and actor known for his straw hat
- Frans Eemil Sillanpää (September 16) · First Finnish author to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature
- T. S. Eliot (September 26) · American-born British poet of The Waste Land and Four Quartets, whose cat poems inspired the musical Cats, and a Nobel laureate
- October
- Henry A. Wallace (October 7) · Vice President of the United States under Franklin D. Roosevelt
- Nikolai Bukharin (October 9) · Russian revolutionary and editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda
- Katherine Mansfield (October 14) · Modernist writer celebrated for her short stories and poetry
- Eugene O'Neill (October 16) · American playwright of Long Day's Journey into Night and The Iceman Cometh, winner of four Pulitzers and the Nobel Prize
- Richard E. Byrd (October 25) · American naval officer and pioneering polar explorer
- Andrei Tupolev (October 29) · Soviet aeronautical engineer who founded the Tupolev aircraft design bureau
- November
- José Raúl Capablanca (November 6) · Cuban chess world champion regarded as one of the greatest players
- Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (November 7) · Indian physicist who discovered the Raman effect in light scattering and became Asia's first Nobel laureate in science
- Nestor Makhno (November 7) · Ukrainian anarchist revolutionary who led the Black Army
- Jean Monnet (November 9) · French diplomat regarded as a founding father of the European Union
- Abul Kalam Azad (November 11) · Leader in the Indian independence movement and first Minister of Education
- Frances Marion (November 18) · Pioneering Hollywood screenwriter who won two Academy Awards
- Dale Carnegie (November 24) · Author of the influential self-help book How to Win Friends and Influence People
- December
- Alexander I of Yugoslavia (December 16) · First King of Yugoslavia who ruled during the early twentieth century
- F. W. Murnau (December 28) · German film director who created the silent classic Nosferatu