Famous people born on 12 May

• Niccolò MachiavelliFlorentine statesman, diplomat, and political theorist · 1469–1527
  58 yrs
• Florence NightingaleEnglish social reformer, statistician, and founder of modern nursing · 1820–1910
  90 yrs
• Katharine HepburnAmerican actress · 1907–2003
  96 yrs
• Justinian IEastern Roman Emperor who ruled from 527 to 565 · AD 482–565
  83 yrs
• Dorothy HodgkinBritish chemist · 1910–1994
  84 yrs
• Jiddu KrishnamurtiIndian spiritual philosopher, mystic, speaker and writer · 1895–1986
  90 yrs
• George CarlinAmerican stand-up comedian · 1937–2008
  71 yrs
• Maryam MirzakhaniIranian mathematician · 1977–2017
  40 yrs
• Theodoric the GreatKing of the Germanic Ostrogoths and ruler of Italy · AD 454–526
  72 yrs
• Dante Gabriel RossettiEnglish poet, illustrator, painter, and translator · 1828–1882
  53 yrs
• Justus von LiebigGerman chemist · 1803–1873
  69 yrs
• Gabriel Fauré ↗French composer, organist, pianist and teacher · 1845–1924
  79 yrs
• Augustus II the Strong ↗King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania and Elector of Saxony · 1670–1733
  62 yrs
• Jules Massenet ↗French composer · 1842–1912
  70 yrs
• William Giauque ↗American chemist · 1895–1982
  86 yrs
• Edward Lear ↗British artist, illustrator, author and poet · 1812–1888
  75 yrs
• Joseph Beuys ↗German artist, teacher, and theorist of art · 1921–1986
  64 yrs
• Sam Nujoma ↗President of Namibia from 1990 to 2005 · 1929–2025
  95 yrs
• Burt Bacharach ↗American pianist, composer, producer · 1928–2023
  94 yrs
• Andrei Voznesensky ↗Soviet poet · 1933–2010
  77 yrs
• Ayaz Mutallibov ↗President of Azerbaijan from 1990 to 1992 · 1938–2022
  83 yrs
• Yogi Berra ↗American baseball player, manager, and coach · 1925–2015
  90 yrs
• Kurt Student ↗German Luftwaffe general · 1890–1978
  88 yrs
• Alan Ball Jr. ↗English footballer and manager · 1945–2007
  61 yrs
• Jonah Lomu ↗New Zealand rugby union player · 1975–2015
  40 yrs
• Manuel Godoy ↗Prime Minister of Spain · 1767–1851
  84 yrs
• Frère Roger ↗Swiss monk · 1915–2005
  90 yrs
• Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire ↗French preacher and journalist · 1802–1861
  59 yrs
• Carl Schuhmann ↗German athlete · 1869–1946
  76 yrs
• Jesús Franco ↗Spanish filmmaker, composer, and actor · 1930–2013
  82 yrs
• John Russell Hind ↗English astronomer · 1823–1895
  72 yrs
• Ágnes Heller ↗Hungarian philosopher and academic · 1929–2019
  90 yrs
• Frank Stella ↗American painter and printmaker · 1936–2024
  87 yrs
• Hermes da Fonseca ↗President of Brazil · 1855–1923
  68 yrs
• Johan Ferrier ↗Dutch-Surinamese politician · 1910–2010
  99 yrs
• Claribel Alegría ↗Nicaraguan writer · 1924–2018
  93 yrs
• Giovanni Battista Viotti ↗Italian violinist and composer of the classical period · 1755–1824
  68 yrs
• Johan Vilhelm Snellman ↗Finnish politician and author · 1806–1881
  75 yrs
• Maya Deren ↗Ukrainian-born American avant-garde filmmaker · 1917–1961
  44 yrs

Only people with a known day of birth are listed, and only people who have died. Dates are from Wikidata (CC0), last updated 22 October 2026.

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