- Jan 3 John Storm, American Revolutionary soldier (d. 1835)
- Jan 10 Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg, German composer and conductor, born in Lauda-Königshofen, Duchy of Württemberg, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1802)
- Jan 19 Melchor López, Spanish sacred music composer, born in Hueva, Guadalajara, Spain (d. 1822)
- Jan 19 Patrick Cotter O'Brien, Irish showman, first known eight-foot-tall person (stood 8 foot 1 inch (246cm)), born in Kinsale, Ireland (d. 1806) [1]
- Jan 30 František Xaver Partsch, Czech composer, born in Duchcov (d. 1822)
- Feb 12 Jan Ladislav Dussek [Jan Václav Dusík], Czech piano virtuoso, glass harmonic player, and composer, born in Čáslav, Bohemia (now Czech Republic) (d. 1840)
- Feb 14 Richard Allen, 1st African American ordained by Methodist-Episcopal church, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 1831)
- Feb 15 Jean-François Le Sueur, French composer, noted for his operas and oratorios, born in Drucat-Plessiel, France (d. 1837)
- Mar 1 François Nicolas Leonard Buzot, French revolutionary (d. 1794)
- Mar 2 Camille Desmoulins, French journalist, pamphleteer and revolutionary leader (his oratory led to storming of the Bastille), born in Guise, France (d. 1794)
- Mar 27 Ishmail Spicer, American publisher, music teacher, and composer, born in Bozrah, Connecticut (d. 1832)
- Mar 27 Marie-Jean Auguste Vestris, French ballet dancer, born in Paris (d. 1842)
- Mar 28 Thomas Clarkson, English abolitionist (Negro Emancipation), born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England (d. 1846)
- Apr 12 Juan Manuel Olivares, Venezuelan composer, born in Caracas, Venezuela (d. 1797)
- May 10 Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, French soldier, author and composer (La Marseillaise), born in Lons-le-Saunier, France (d. 1836)
- May 10 Johann Peter Hebel, German writer (Allemannische Gedichte), born in Basel (d. 1826)
Alexandre de Beauharnais (1760-1794)
May 28 French politician, general of the revolution and first husband of Joséphine de Beauharnais, born in Fort-Royal, Martinique, France
- Jun 5 Johan Gadolin, Finnish chemist (discovered yttrium), born in Turku, Finland (d. 1852)
- Jun 14 Candido Jose Ruano, Spanish composer, born in El Viso, Spain (d. 1803)
- Jun 26 Johan I Jozef, Monarch of Liechtenstein and fieldmarshal, born in Vienna, Austria (d. 1836)
- Jul 8 Christian Kramp, French mathematician known for his work with factorials, born in Strasbourg, France (d. 1826)
- Aug 22 Leo XII [Annibale Sermattei], Italian Pope (1823-29), born in Genga, Marche, Italy (d. 1829)
- Sep 14 Luigi Cherubini, Italian musical prodigy, composer (Médée; Requiem in D minor), and educator (Conservatoire de Paris, 1822-42), baptized in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany (d. 1842) [birth was likely on the 8th]
- Sep 15 Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien, Prussian general of the Napoleonic Wars, born in Potsdam, Brandenburg (d. 1824)
- Sep 21 Gaetano Valeri, Italian composer, born in Padua, Italy (d. 1822)
- Sep 21 Ivan Dmitriev, Russian statesman (Minister of Justice, 1810-14), and poet ("Liberation of Moscow"), born in Simbirsk, Russian Empire (d. 1837)
- Sep 29 William Beckford, British writer (Vathek), politician, plantation owner, and art collector, born in Soho Square, London (d. 1844) [some sources give birth date as Oct 1]
- Oct 9 Pierre Gaveaux, French composer, born in Béziers, France (d. 1825)
- Oct 27 August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal, born in Schildau, Saxony (d. 1831)
- Nov 8 Jean-Baptiste Dumonceau, Dutch general, born in Brussels, Austrian Netherlands (d. 1821)
- Nov 9 Henri-Philippe Gerard, Belgian composer, born in Liège, Belgium (d. 1848)
- Nov 13 Jiaqing [Yongyan], 5th Emperor of Qing Dynasty (1796-1820), born at the Old Summer Palace, near Beijing, China (d. 1820)
- Nov 23 Gracchus Babeuf, French utopian socialist (Tribun du Peuple) (d. 1797)
- Dec 2 John Breckinridge, American lawyer (5th United States Attorney General) and politician (U.S. Senator from Kentucky), born in Augusta County, Virginia (d. 1806)
- Dec 2 Joseph Graetz, German organist, composer, and music educator, born in Vohburg on the Danube, Electorate of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empire (d. 1826)
- Dec 18 Knud Lyne Rahbek, Danish literary figure (Om sku skuespillerkunsten) (d. 1830)
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