- Jan 1 Archibald Bulloch, American lawyer, Revolutionary War military officer, and politician (Governor of Georgia, 1776-77), born in Charlestown, Province of South Carolina (d. 1777)
- Jan 3 Charles Palissot de Montenoy, French playwright (Les Tuteurs) satirist and politician, born in Nancy, France (d. 1814)
- Jan 12 Johann Joachim Christoph Bode, German bassoonist and composer, born in Barum, Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1793)
- Jan 14 William Whipple, American merchant & judge (signatory of the Declaration of Independence), born in Kittery, Maine (d. 1785)
- Jan 15 John Malchair, German-English artist, violinist and composer, baptized in the Electorate of Cologne, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1812)
- Jan 23 Joseph Hewes, American merchant (Declaration of Independence signatory), born in Princeton, New Jersey (d. 1779)
- Feb 11 María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa [Mama Antula], Argentine laywoman (Argentina's 1st female saint), born in Villa Silípica, Viceroyalty of Peru (d. 1799)
- Feb 21 Charles L Fournier, Flemish writer and painter (d. 1803)
- Feb 23 Christian Giuseppe Lidarti, Austrian composer, born in Vienna, Austria (d. after 1793)
- Mar 7 Baron de Breteuil, French statesman (d. 1807)
- Mar 11 Otto Friedrich Müller, Danish Naturalist who was a pioneer in the study of microorganisms including bacteria, diatoms, and infusoria, born in Copenhagen, Denmark (d. 1784)
- Mar 27 Thomas Tyrwhitt, English classical scholar and critic, born in London (d. 1786)
- Mar 31 Étienne Bézout, French mathematician (d. 1783)
- Apr 25 Fedele Fenaroli, Italian composer, born in Lanciano, Italy (d. 1818)
- May 10 George Ross, American judge and US Founding Father (signed US Declaration of Independence), born in New Castle, Delaware (d. 1779)
Charles Watson-Wentworth (1730-1782)
May 13 2nd Marquis of Rockingham, British Prime Minister (Whig: 1765-66, 1782), born in Wentworth, Yorkshire, England
- May 29 William Jackson [Jackson of Exeter], English composer and organist, born in Exeter, England (d. 1803)
- Jun 7 Georg von Pasterwiz, Austrian composer, born in Passau, Germany (d. 1803)
- Jun 14 Antonio Sacchini, Italian opera composer, born in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany (now Italy) (d. 1786)
- Jun 20 Nonnosus Madlseder, German composer and Benedictine monk, born in Merano, County of Tyrol, Austria (d. 1797)
- Jun 21 Motoori Norinaga, Japanese physician, scholar, and writer (Kojiki-den (Commentaries on the Kojiki)), born in Matsuzaka, Japan (d. 1801)
Charles Messier (1730-1817)
Jun 26 French astronomer, comet hunter and cataloguer of nebulae and star clusters, now referred to as "M objects", born in Badonviller, Lorraine, France
Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795)
Jul 12 English pottery designer and manufacturer (Wedgwood), born in Burslem, Staffordshire, England
- Aug 27 Johann Georg Hamann, German counter-enlightenment philosopher ("Reason is language"), born in Königsberg, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1788)
Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (1730-1794)
Sep 17 Prussian-American military officer (major general of the Continental Army), born in Magdeburg
- Oct 1 Richard Stockton, American attorney and signer of Declaration of Independence, born in Princeton, New Jersey (d. 1781)
- Oct 14 Jean-Joseph Rodolphe, Alsatian composer, born in Strasbourg, France (d. 1812)
- Oct 17 Ernestus Weinrauch, German composer (Cain and Abel), organist, and Benedictine priest, born in Donauwörth, Bavaria (now Germany) (d. 1793)
- Nov 10 Oliver Goldsmith, Irish novelist and dramatist (She Stoops to Conquer), born in Kilkenny West, Ireland (d. 1774)
- Nov 16 Gualtherus van Doeveren, Dutch physician, and educator, born in Philippine, Zealandin Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, Netherlands (d. 1783)
- Dec 8 Jan Ingenhousz, Dutch-English physiologist (discovering photosynthesis) and personal physician of Maria Theresa, born in Breda, Staats-Brabant, Dutch Republic (d. 1799)
- Dec 14 Capel Bond, English composer, born in Gloucester (d. 1790)
- Dec 25 Philip Mazzei, Italian physician and friend of Thomas Jefferson (d. 1816)