# Most Famous People From Your Area **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 18, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286 "2011-05-18T04:23:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/1 "2011-05-18T04:23:26Z")
Richard Nixon Tiger Woods ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/2 "2011-05-18T04:33:33Z")
Brad Delp Doctor Oz Paul Revere Elbridge Gerry Stephen Tyler James Taylor Sam Adams ---
**Author:** ![Winston\_Smith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e95f7d/32.png) [@Winston\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winston_Smith)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/3 "2011-05-18T04:37:26Z")
Edgar Allen Poe Robert Frost Doris Kearns Goodwin Jack Kerouac ---
**Author:** ![Maiira](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Maiira](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maiira)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/4 "2011-05-18T04:45:39Z")
Garrison Keillor Terry Gilliam Josh Hartnett (does he count?) The Andrews Sisters Michelle Bachman (unfortunately) Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver)–went to my high school, in fact. Bob Dylan Um…that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/5 "2011-05-18T04:47:23Z")
Linus Pauling Matt Groening Beverly Cleary Raymond Carver Tonya Harding ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/6 "2011-05-18T04:59:02Z")
Morgan Freeman Oprah Winfrey William Faulkner Faith Hill ---
**Author:** ![Anamorphic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/anamorphic/32/3057_2.png) [@Anamorphic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anamorphic)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/7 "2011-05-18T05:03:53Z")
I live in Los Angeles. I wouldn’t even know where to start. ---
**Author:** ![Lacunae\_Matata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lacunae\_Matata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lacunae_Matata)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/8 "2011-05-18T05:06:12Z")
Johnny Mercer - Songwriter Flannery O’Conner - Author Conrad Aiken - Poet Clarence Thomas - Supreme Court Justice Big Boi - Rapper former of Outkast Juliette Gordon Low - Girl Scouts founder And others… ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/9 "2011-05-18T05:08:58Z")
David Lee Roth, John Mellencamp, Hoagy Carmichael, Meg Cabot ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/10 "2011-05-18T06:01:22Z")
Define “area”. If we’re going with “from your town/city” then I have [plenty](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_Melbourne). If you mean “from your local neighbourhood” then not so much. ETA: Oh, and if by “famous” you mean “famous in Australia” and not “world famous”, though some on that list qualify for both. ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/11 "2011-05-18T06:05:41Z")
The Carpenters, James Hetfield, Miranda Cosgrove, JoJo Starbuck and Ken Shelley ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/12 "2011-05-18T06:27:55Z")
George Lucas Mark Spitz Joe Rudi Carol Channing(current resident) Harve Presnell (actor) Suzy Powell (American record holder-Discus, 3 time Olympian) ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 9:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/13 "2011-05-18T09:07:56Z")
> **[List of people from Rochester, New York](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_Rochester,_New_York)** > > Rochester, New York in the United States, and its suburbs, is or has been home to many famous individuals. These people include businessmen, civil rights activists, politicians, entertainers, educators, athletes, and much more. Three prominent Rochesterians in the national consciousness are abolitionist Frederick Douglass, suffragist Susan B. Anthony, and inventor-philanthropist George Eastman. > Like most cities, Rochester has its share of famous (and not-so-famous) athletes. Among the biggest... ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/14 "2011-05-18T10:09:54Z")
City would be too big but if you bring it down to local area then [Phil Lynott](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Lynott) would be it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/15 "2011-05-18T10:30:54Z")
Francis Xavier tends to be pretty well-known, or at least a familiar name. There’s others but he’s both the one I hear mentioned most often and the one that people know where he’s from. All the original Jesuits were from “close by”, but he’s both the one from “closest by” and one of the most famous members of his Order. Architect Rafael Moneo, the medical pair Miguel Servet (probably born in Saragossa, raised in Tudela, signed as “from Tudela” and discovered blood circulation) and Santiago Ramón y Cajal (born in Petilla, considered himself from Saragossa and discovered that nerves are made of separate cells), several sportsfolk (Miguel Induráin, the Sánchez Vicario family), mounted bullfighter Pablo Hermoso de Mendoza; most of our musicians are known only in Spain but I do think that clasical musicians Elsewhere may have heard of Pablo Sarasate and perhaps of Julián Gayarre; the one which I think may be best known outside our borders among the current crop is soprano María Bayo. And of course, although the immense majority of the world would never, ever, recognize its author’s name (or even know that this song is a single song and not several, much less the song’s own name), millions of people from every country in the world (except perhaps Nepal) have danced to the Vals-Jota de Astráin, aka “Riau-riau”, during the Sanfermines. [Without lyrics](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2FlwDMfEi0), played by La Pamplonesa (the city’s band, of which Astráin was director when he wrote the waltz); [with](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWngUrXjkr0) one of the many versions of its lyrics, curiously written without any tildes, and sung. ---
**Author:** ![Southern\_Yankee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/southern_yankee/32/2800_2.png) [@Southern\_Yankee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Southern_Yankee)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/16 "2011-05-18T10:50:42Z")
Reverend Billy Graham Ric “Nature Boy” Flair (Woo!) ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/17 "2011-05-18T10:53:05Z")
From my hometown of Dardanelle, AR, which now has around 4000 people, but maybe 3000 when I was growing up: John Daly, pro golfer James Lee Witt, head of FEMA during the Clinton administration …and of course, Mattie Ross from _True Grit_ (fictional) ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/18 "2011-05-18T12:14:23Z")
Abraham Lincoln Robin Roberts (baseball player back in The Day) Vachel Lindsay (poet) Jayson Werth (baseball player for (I think) the LA Dodgers) ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/19 "2011-05-18T12:24:28Z")
[Famous people from Austin](http://activerain.com/blogsview/1619660/famous-people-from-austin). The list grows significantly if you include famous people who now call Austin home. (Damn yankees) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286/20 "2011-05-18T12:27:15Z")
Wright Brothers Jonathan Winters Erma Bombeck Charlie Sheen [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-famous-people-from-your-area/582286.md?page=2)