WOW,swooosh eh RR 
…
Please tell me there is a “general knowledge section” on the Illinois Bar exam.
Wow…just wow.
Maryland / Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi. She may not be quite as famous as Francis Scott Key, or the immortal Babe. But I do believe her name is fairly well known these days.
For most famous within the US, I would say Richard Hatch.
I seriously doubt that, world-wide, Nancy Pelosi is better-known than Frank Zappa. Do you think she beats him?
Is that the best Rhode Island has to offer? :dubious: I’m going to have to go through that list myself as time permits later today.
I forgot to address this.
Firstly: population of Spain approx. 46 million, population of US approx. 310 million. Spain has approx. 15% of the US population. So instead of 50, you would have to pick the top 8 most popular Spaniards.
Secondly, if you asked me to name the top 8 most famous Spaniards, I might not know. But if you gave me a list of the top 8 most famous Spaniards, I bet you any amount of money I would know who all of them are. Being able to name them is much harder. I’m not saying that eveybody could name the 50 people in the list I hope to come up with, but I’m saying that a lot of people could recognize those names. And in any case, even if the person is fairly obscure, there is still a most famous person, even if the most famous person is not all that impressive (I’m looking at you, Rhode Island!)
I once had the pleasure of being stuck behind James Woods at a Warwick, RI post office when he had many important things to mail. He also had some flunkies with him, to whom such tasks you think would fall. I also shook his hand outside a supermarket when his brother was running for mayor (his platform seemed to be “my brother is a movie star”)
Other than that, I know of most of them, have met some of them and graduated High School with one. Nap Lajoie was so big that the Cleveland Indians were called the Naps for a decade. People should know Nathanael Greene, but don’t.
Eh, how about Meredith Vieira?
Anybody else think Laura Ingalls Wilder should beat at least Frank Lloyd Wright for Wisconsin? Isn’t she world famous? Her books have been translated into 40 different languages, inspired a long-running television show and two movies, plus a spin-off series of books. There are “Little House” museums all over the country. I don’t see how any American school child can get out of elementary school without having been exposed to her.
Maybe some non-Americans can chime in on this one.
Non-American but I have lived in the US for 16 years. I have never heard of Wilder, but regard Frank Lloyd Wright as famous enough to be known internationally.
I’d go with Hank Williams, Sr., for Alabama. He spent most of his life here and most of his best known songs were written in and about Alabama.
Keller may be more famous internationally but it’s hard to count as Alabamian somebody who only lived here for 8 (out of 88) years, and ditto Nat King Cole who moved to Chicago (taking his family with him IIRC) when he was 4. It’d be like counting Capote as a Louisianan (he was born in New Orleans).
George Wallace is perhaps better known in America but I doubt he’s that well known outside of the U.S. or to most Americans under 40, while they would recognize several HW songs even if they didn’t know who he was.
Courtney Cox and Charles Barkley would be on the short list for living Alabamians.
The title of this thread is “Who is the most famous person BORN in your state?” (OP’s emphasis).
It also said “Extra points if the person became famous while still living in that state.” I think Hank’s extra points are enough to trump Helen.
There are so many from Ohio, including several Presidents.
But I think Steven Spielberg is more famous than any other.
Speaking as a non-American again, I’m quite sure I could easily come up with the names of 50 famous Americans - maybe even a few hundred. American culture is absolutely ubiquitous (especially in the English-speaking world), before you even get into people who discovered or invented things or were otherwise historically important. I imagine I could get to 100 famous Britons too.
On the current list, I’m personally getting about 90% familiar, plus maybe another 5% of “well I THINK I’ve heard the name”
Then should I be choosing the most famous person BORN in the state I was BORN in? Or the one in which I’ve lived for most of my life?
If so, I’m talking New York. Far more interesting people have been born there than in Maine. Stephen King is our face to the world? Sheesh.
Worldwide? I bet the vast majority of residents of India and China have heard of neither one!
Domestically, I’d bet a lot more people know who Pelosi is than who Zappa is, thanks to GOP agitprop if nothing else.
But I’d bet the Babe is far better known worldwide than Pelosi, Zappa, or Phelps (who??) put together.
My thoughts on Arnold’s “ties”:
Alabama: Helen Keller by far. It would be very difficult to find a group of five adults where no one had heard of her. It wouldn’t be hard at all to do so with Jesse Owens or Hank Williams.
Arkansas: Bill Clinton. And this from a rather rabid Johnny Cash fan.
Georgia: Martin Luther King. Just think of how many places in the US are named for him, and he is at least as prominent as Carter internationally.
Illinois: Ronald Reagan is an icon internationally; I doubt most of my co-workers know who Miles Davis was. And it hurts to say that.
Maryland: I don’t think you have a grasp of how famous Babe Ruth is. Along with Lincoln and John Wayne, he is usually ranked as the most recognized American.
Massachusetts: One would have to take Franklin, though I see where you’re coming from.
Michigan: Erma Bombeck once said: “Don’t confuse fame with success. Madonna is one; Helen Keller is the other.” Henry Ford is a colossus of history. Madonna is not.
North Carolina: Billy Graham in a walkoff.
Ohio: Thomas Edison. Spielberg is famous. Edison is an indispensible figure of history.
Oklahoma: Brad Pitt. I’m not sure Will Rogers is THAT famous. YMMV.
Oregon: Linus Pauling, and I really don’t think it’s particularly close between him and Groenig.
Texas: I see where the conflict is, but Eisenhower is the most famous of these.
The others I don’t have a clear pick for. Marilyn vs. Nixon and Wright vs. Orson are particularly intriguing. I do have to wonder what Deleware and New Hampshire have been up to for 300+ years. New Mexico’s choices just make me sad. Isn’t Barry Goldwater more famous than either of the singers you currently have chosen?
ETA: I see you have Goldwater as a near-miss. If Nicks or Ronstatt were Madonna, I’d agree with you, but c’mon…
I’ve never heard of Will Rogers, so I agree with you there.
I’m not convinced. I’m keeping her on the “doesn’t make the cut” list.
The problem with Hank Williams is that he’s a country / western singer, and that type of music is really only well-known in the USA. Helen Keller is known outside the USA.
I’m choosing the birth states of people because it’s too hard to figure out “where is a person really from”, especially in today’s mobile society. To take Truman Capote, is he a Southerner or a New Yorker?
Even Thomas Edison?
I guess the title of the OP should be changed to “Who is the most famous person born in each of the 50 states?” Your answer doesn’t have to relate to your state.
In India and China, I’ll grant that maybe most people have heard of neither. But in Western Europe (where I’m from), Frank Zappa will have a lot more name recognition than Nancy Pelosi.
StusBlues seems to agree with you, but baseball is a purely american sport. I think outside of the USA a lot of people won’t have heard of Babe Ruth. You have convinced me to drop Michael Phelps though.
StusBlues: great post. I’m revising my list based on some of your comments. A few places where I disagree with you:
You mean, most recognized in the US, right? As I said previously, he’s a baseball player, which disqualifies him from people outside the US having heard of him.
I’m trying to take the international point of view again. I think more people outside the USA will know Stevie Nicks or Linda Ronstadt than Barry Goldwater.
When all the dust has settled in this thread, I’m going to start another thread with polls on the states where there are several viable candidates.
Names included up to post 197.
List one: my choices for US States (reflecting my biases - e.g. I don’t follow sports). Also I usually give preference to movie personalities vs. TV personalities because movie personalities are usually more known internationally. When there are multiple names, the ones I list first are my preferred candidate.
List two: US territories since Colibri brought it up.
List three: candidates that have been brought up and might, IMHO, be defensible.
I’ve omitted a bunch of names that don’t come close.
List 1
State / Most famous person born in that state
Alabama / Helen Keller
Alaska / Curtis Montague Schilling
Arkansas / William Jefferson “Bill” Clinton or John R. “Johnny” Cash
Arizona / Linda Ronstadt or Stephanie Lynn “Stevie” Nicks
California / Norma Jeane Baker aka Marilyn Monroe or Richard Milhous Nixon
Colorado / William Harrison “Jack” Dempsey
Connecticut / George Walker Bush
Delaware / George Thorogood or Judge Reinhold
Florida / James Douglas “Jim” Morrison
Georgia / Martin Luther King or James Earl “Jimmy” Carter
Hawaii / Barack Hussein Obama
Idaho / Sarah Louise Palin
Illinois / Ronald Wilson Reagan
Indiana / Michael Joseph Jackson
Iowa / Marion Mitchell Morrison aka John Wayne
Kansas / Amelia Earhart
Kentucky / Abraham Lincoln
Louisiana / Louis Daniel Armstrong
Maine / Stephen Edwin King
Maryland / Frank Vincent Zappa or George Herman Ruth aka “Babe” Ruth
Massachussetts / Benjamin Franklin or John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Michigan / Henry Ford or Madonna Louise Ciccone
Minnesota / Robert Allen Zimmerman aka Bob Dylan
Mississippi / Elvis Aaron Presley
Missouri / Samuel Langhorne Clemens aka Mark Twain
Montana / Frank James “Gary” Cooper
Nebraska / Marlon Brando
New Hampshire / Franklin Pierce or Dan Brown or Ronald James Padavona aka Ronnie James Dio
New Jersey / Francis Albert “Frank” Sinatra
New Mexico / John Denver or Demi Gene Guynes aka Demi Moore or Geronimo or Alfred “Al” Unser
New York / Franklin Delano Roosevelt aka FDR
North Carolina / William Franklin “Billy” Graham or Andy Samuel Griffith
North Dakota / Warren Minor Christopher or Angie Dickinson
Ohio / Thomas Alva Edison or Steven Allan Spielberg
Oklahoma / William Bradley “Brad” Pitt or William Penn Adair “Will” Rogers
Oregon / Linus Carl Pauling or Matthew Abram “Matt” Groening or Raymond Clevie Carver
Pennsylvania / Grace Patricia Kelly or Andrew Warhola aka Andy Warhol
Rhode Island / James Howard Woods
South Dakota / Sitting Bull or Thomas John “Tom” Brokaw
Tennessee / Dolly Rebecca Parton or David Crockett
Texas / Dwight David “Ike” Eisenhower or Lyndon Baines Johnson aka LBJ or Howard Robard Hughes
Utah / Roseanne Cherie Barr or Butch Cassidy or Jewel Kilcher
Vermont / Joseph Smith
Virginia/ George Washington
Washington / William Henry “Bill” Gates III
Washington, DC / Albert Arnold “Al” Gore
West Virginia / Charles Elwood “Chuck” Yeager
Wisconsin / George Orson Welles or Frank Lloyd Wright
Wyoming / Paul Jackson Pollock
List 2
Territories
American Samoa
Canal Zone - John Sidney McCain
Puerto Rico / José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón aka José Ferrer or Benicio Monserrate Rafael del Toro Sánchez aka Benicio del Toro
List 3
Other suggestions that don’t quite make the cut IMHO
Alabama / James Cleveland “Jesse” Owens or Hank Williams
Arizona / Barry Morris Goldwater
Delaware / Elisabeth Judson Shue
Florida / Thomas Earl Petty aka Tom Petty
Illinois / Miles Dewey Davis
Kentucky / John Christopher “Johnny” Depp
Nebraska / Gerald Rudolph Ford
New Hampshire / Sarah Kate Silverman
New Mexico / Jeffrey Preston “Jeff” Bezos or William Henry “Bill” Mauldin
New York / Michael Jeffrey Jordan
North Dakota / Louis Dearborn L’Amour or Philip Douglas “Phil” Jackson or Lawrence Welk
Ohio / LeBron Raymone James
Oklahoma / Troyal Garth Brooks or Mickey Charles Mantle
Rhode Island / Meredith Louise Vieira or Howard Phillips “H. P.” Lovecraft
South Dakota / Thomas Andrew Daschle
Tennessee / Aretha Louise Franklin or Morgan Porterfield Freeman
Vermont / Theodore Robert “Ted” Bundy
Wisconsin / Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder
Puerto Rico / Rita Moreno or Raúl Rafael Juliá y Arcelay aka Raúl Juliá or Roberto Clemente Walker
I disagree with you on this. I think Babe Ruth was such a big star that his fame transcends that of his sport. While I can only talk for the UK (and maybe only myself) I would expect Babe Ruth to be a very well known name in the UK.
A similar sportsman would be Michael Jordan - famous beyond his sport. On the other hand, Wayne Gretzky would be totally unknown to 99.9% of Brits.